Dorothy Wuestner Morgan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in September 1922. It was very rural there at that time. They had wonderful schools and no crime then. She has an older sister and a younger brother who was a US Marine after the war. They had a home in the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. There were times they would be low on coal for heating. Food was sparce at times. Her father decided to go into business making tricycles for little kids. No one could afford them. He gave up on it and got a job with Heinz Manufacturing Company. Things got better after that. Women, like her mother, did not work in those days. Morgan graduated school and got a job in an office. She wanted to be an artist and was not encouraged to do so. She hated her job. As soon as she heard the Navy wanted women on active duty she signed up. She was 19 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. She was at home and heard about it. It was unexpected. The United States was staying out of the war. The general public at least thought so. Her life did not change much at that point. Rationing came in later. The WACs [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the United States Army, 1942 to 1978] came in first. She joined the WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Naval Women's Reserve] out of boredom with her job. She did not tell her family until after she had signed up. Her father had been in the First World War and was fine with it. She has a lot of friends whose fathers did not let them go in even though they wanted to. Morgan did not expect, or want, her parent's permission.

Dorothy Wuestner Morgan joined the WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Naval Women's Reserve] and 13 December 1942 went to Cedar Falls, Iowa. There was snow on the ground the whole time she was there for boot camp. She loved it the drilling. She was amazed that some women did not know their right from their left. They took aptitude tests, and she was selected to go to machinist mate training [Annotator's Note: aviation machinist's mate]. She loved it. She went home on leave and then to Millington [Annotator's Note: Millington Naval Base, now Naval Support Activities Mid South Naval Base in Millington, Tennessee] in early 1943. She was not following the events of the war. Her first night, there were 10,000 men stationed there. They had a dance in a hangar. 144 women were stationed there. She will never forget it as it was so fun. She trained from February [Annotator's Note: February 1943] until the end of August [Annotator's Note: August 1943]. They learned the different parts of aviation engines and how to service them. They also learned about other parts of the aircraft as well. She did not want to be a teacher. She wanted action. She went to Los Alamitos, California [Annotator's Note: now Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos in Los Alamitos, California] in July [Annotator's Note: July 1944] for a few weeks. They were losing time there due to the fog, so they changed the nature of the base. Morgan was then sent to Bunker Hill, Indiana [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Bunker Hill, now Grissom Air Reserve Base in Cass and Miami counties, Indiana] where Ted Williams [Annotator's Note: Theodore Samuel Williams, American professional baseball player and manager] was trying to be a pilot. That was exciting. Los Alamitos had been gorgeous. Bunker Hill had been put up quickly and was very barren. She got to working on training planes there. She ended up painting fuselages for a few months. She had gotten married, and her husband was stationed there. He was taught to be a weatherman.

Dorothy Wuestner Morgan [Annotator's Note: in the WAVES; Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Naval Women's Reserve] worked an eight to five job shift at Bunker Hill [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Bunker Hill, now Grissom Air Reserve Base in Cass and Miami counties, Indiana]. She met her husband on her 21st birthday. She dated other men there. A lot of them were married and she did not like that when she found out. She never was put down or treated with disrespect. They would hitchhike in those days and never thought anything of it. It was a naïve and different time. They would go to a bar in town and talk and have fun. When she was in Memphis [Annotator's Note: Memphis, Tennessee], she dated someone from Oklahoma who was wonderful. He had seven sisters and Morgan thought she could not compete with that. The only challenging thing was finding out if men were married. The women officers forbade them from trying to find out. She thought that was unfair. She did not want to get involved with anyone who was married. Then she met her husband, and it did not matter. She got pregnant and they discharged her. If she knew then what she knows now, she would not have married and would have stayed in. She was discharged in 1945 near the war's end. Her sister was home and pregnant too.

Dorothy Wuestner Morgan had no trouble adjusting to civilian life. Her daughter is now 70 years old. She has three children. None of them served in the military. Morgan wanted to use the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment]. She tried to sign up for college but found out she was pregnant. She uses her VA [Annotator's Note: United States Department of Veterans Affairs; also referred to as the Veterans Administration] benefits now and is very appreciative. She worked in an office after her kids were in junior high. Morgan is annoyed with the old boy network. She lets them know she is the one who handled the money, house, and kids. Her husband worked period. She resents being talked down to. The younger ones are bright and treat their wives a lot differently than the "good ole boys." Morgan wants people to know she was treated with the utmost respect in her service. She only resented the married officers who were dating them without telling them, as well as the women officers blocking their attempts to see who was married. She is amazed at how well the veterans are recognized today. She feels like a queen sometimes. She did not feel that way when she joined. She realizes now it took a lot of courage to enlist. Her father was brought up to believe that boys were much more important than girls. Her granddaughter is going to nursing school and teaches. She has to take care of her family because her husband is not. Morgan had to take care of her husband. Her service experience was wonderful. She is happy she did it.