YN1 Frances Marie Manola Oral History Side A

title:

YN1 Frances Marie Manola Oral History Side A

creator:

Manola, Frances Marie (1916 August 28 - )

subject:

Navy WAVES

description:

Side 1 of 2. This is the original, unedited interview audio. Frances Marie Manola was born on August 28, 1916 in Arlington, New Jersey. She grew up as the oldest of three children, and although she would have loved to go to art school, because of the Depression she needed to get a job as quickly as possible. Her aunt paid for her to go to business school and began working in a research laboratory for three and a half years before her enlistment. She joined the Navy WAVES in 1943 because she wanted to contribute to the war effort, her brother had been drafted in the Navy, and she liked those uniforms the best. She went to basic training at Hunter College and was only there for three and a half weeks since the Navy was in serious need for yeoman and Manola already had training in shorthand and typing. She was assigned to Washington, DC and lived with other WAVES at Arlington Farms. Her job was in the Officer Distribution Branch, where she would give men their orders to sea duty. She would also help with next of kin notifications after a ship was lost at sea in emergency situations. She remained at this station until her discharge in February 1946. When she was discharged, she took a six-month vacation before getting a job at Standard Oil. She liked her job well enough, but got bored with it and decided to use the GI Bill to go to art school. She went to school in Newark, New Jersey and took classes in all sorts of mediums and materials for 2-D art, completing her program in three years. When she first went to get a job after finishing school it appeared she’d have to return to an engineering setting, but before picking a position in that field she was told the Whitney Museum in New York City just had a position open up. She worked there for thirteen years before moving on to work as a secretary for a Presbyterian minister for a few years until he had to return to England. After he left, she decided to work as a freelance artist, supporting herself through a combination of calligraphy and teaching at the YWCA and the New School in New York. When she left the service Manola had reached the rank of yeoman 1st class, and for her service she was awarded a Navy Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Bellafaire, Judy

date:

2003-08-01

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

602; 2003.602

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

229449

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1943-46

rights:

Unrestricted