YN3 Mary Ellen Tayon Oral History

title:

YN3 Mary Ellen Tayon Oral History

creator:

Tayon, Mary Ellen (Diederich) (1923 March 30 - )

subject:

Navy WAVES | Navy Reserve

description:

Mary Ellen Tayon (formerly Diedrich) was born on March 20, 1923 in St Louis, Missouri. She was the oldest of four children, and since she had just graduated high school around the same time as the attack on Pearl Harbor on 1941, she felt she should contribute to the war effort for her family. She worked at a telephone company for a few years before she was old enough to enlist and the telephone company would let her go, enlisting in the Navy WAVES in October 1944. Since she was 21 at the time she did not need parent permission, but they were incredibly supportive regardless. She went to basic training at Hunter College in New York, and the day they had their uniforms issued they were sent to the armory, standing at attention for President Roosevelt to ride through. After completing basic training, she was initially going to be assigned as a key punch operator because of her experience as an IBM operator, but she told them she’d rather do something else. Instead, she was sent on her own to Seattle, Washington to work in the personnel office, filing paperwork when men arrived, shipped off, were transferred, married, and more. Her worst experience as a WAVE was when she went out one night with a friend, and a sailor threatened to fight her thinking she was the person who freed him up to be shipped to combat. She remained in Seattle until leaving the service in January 1946, returning to her job for a month before using the GI Bill to attend St. Louis University. She thinks her time in the Navy helped open a lot of doors for her education and employment after the war ended. She joined the Navy Reserve in 1949 while in St. Louis, Missouri, and remained in the Reserve until December 1953. When she left the service Tayon had reached the rank of yeoman 3rd class, and for her service she was awarded a Navy Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and National Defense Service Medal. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Vernau, Tori | Sparkman, Sandy

date:

2006-12-14

type:

Audio

format:

CD

identifier:

1143; 2006.1143

source:

American Legion Post 404 | CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

059105

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | Korean War (1950-1953) | 1944-46 | 1949-53

rights:

Unrestricted