June Catherine Elliott Haggerty was born in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. She grew up in Pass Christian [Annotator's Note: Pass Christian, Mississippi] and Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. She worked different jobs in her youth but eventually wanted to go into the Navy. The ladies were called WAVES or Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. She served three years in the WAVES and then the war ended. While in the Navy, she attended school at Hunter College in the Bronx in New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. That was her boot camp introduction to the discipline of the service. After a placement examination after confirming that she had rhythm, she was sent to radio school. She had played various instruments including the drums prior to her service and could state that she had rhythm. At radio school, she learned Morse Code and was speedy with the technique. It was a competitive situation between the trainees. She completed the seven month school with a high rating of 3rd class [Annotator's Note: Radioman 3rd Class]. She was sent with a few other high scoring graduates to Miami, Florida. The Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean were full of submarines [Annotator's Note: German submarines; also known as unterseeboots or u-boats] at that time. One enemy submarine was captured with a current New Orleans paper onboard. Haggerty was a member of the Gulf Sea Frontier of the 7th Naval District in Miami. That was her assignment for the remainder of the war. Everyone was happy when the war was over. She never went to bed hungry although she grew up in the Great Depression. Her parents sacrificed so that their children had enough to eat. Born in 1920, she had an older brother. Her family treated homeless people to food if they were hungry. When one man threw away a free sandwich, her brother challenged the hobo because he did not have more regard for the food given him. Food and other things were inexpensive at the time but money was hard to come by. Haggerty heard about Wall Street personnel committing suicide because of their losses. Haggerty was fortunate to have a wealthy relative who passed her grandchild's clothes to her. She could not wait to see the box with the clothes sent to her. Haggerty's father was a linotype operator. After 7 December [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], soldiers were posted all around local bridges. Keesler [Annotator’s Note: then Keesler Field, now Keesler Air Force Base near Biloxi, Mississippi] and Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg [Annotator's Note: Hattiesburg, Mississippi] were nearby. They each quartered many servicemen. The local girls would dance with military personnel in a local environment similar to a USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] facility. She met many nice men during that time. Haggerty also went to Red Cross meetings. She wanted to go overseas and drive an ambulance to aid the wounded.

June Catherine Elliott Haggerty was 23 years old when she went into the Navy. Her brothers were in the service already. She loved uniforms and the military. Recruiters urged civilians to enlist. Listening to advice from her mother, she entered the Navy while Haggerty's friend, Helen Beale [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] went into the Coast Guard. Her parents were proud of Haggerty for joining the Navy. Her parents were wonderful. They were strict, but not mean. Boot camp was not very challenging because she was used to responsibility and discipline. She never finished reading the large book on rules and regulations. Personalities and entertainers, including Madam Chiang Kai-shek [Annotator's Note: Soong Mei-ling; wife of Generalissimo and President Chiang Kai-shek and first First Lady of the Republic of China] and Kate Smith [Annotator's Note: Kathryn Elizabeth Smith; American singer and entertainer], appeared before the trainees. After the college [Annotator's Note: her boot camp was at Hunter College in New York, New York], they were sent to radio school in Madison, Wisconsin. They were housed in university dormitories. It was not a bad life for WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Naval Women's Reserve]. After training, the radio personnel were deployed to work for seven or eight hour shifts transcribing messages sent to them [Annotator's Note: Haggerty was assigned to the Gulf Sea Frontier with the 7th Naval District Headquarters in Miami, Florida]. The coded messages were then sent upstairs for deciphering. Haggerty could only interpret limited messages, mainly dealing with weather reporting. She was on a rotating shift between day and night shifts. It was difficult to ascertain where the messages were originating. Some of the experienced men working with her could provide a little more information. The Navy took over a hotel which billeted strictly WAVES under a very controlled basis. In addition to the radio work, the WAVES had to serve deck duty in the hotel in case there was an emergency situation. They would have to alert the other women on the floor for potential evacuation. Occasionally, burning ships could be seen offshore [Annotator's Note: presumably following an enemy submarine attack]. When the war ended, the girls enjoyed walking down the street, celebrating by not saluting passing officers. [Annotator's Note: Haggerty chuckles.] She was taken to jail on a different occasion by the shore patrol for not saluting an officer. They were not jailed but likely just admonished for their lack of respect. They were good little girls. [Annotator's Note: Haggerty smiles.] It did bother her that the enlisted WAVES could not enter the officer's club as a date while civilian females could do so. They would grouse among themselves just as girls might do.

June Catherine Elliott Haggerty received messages and sent them upstairs for decoding in the large Dupont office building [Annotator's Note: she was assigned to the Gulf Sea Frontier with the 7th Naval District Headquarters in Miami, Florida]. She operated the radio in her work as well as the "bug", similar to what was used in old western train stations. [Annotator's Note: Haggerty makes the sound that a telegraph makes sending Morse Code messages.] She was complimented for her speed. [Annotator's Note: One of Haggerty's daughters enters the room and there is a brief pause.] There were various signals transmitted. She could only tell when weather reports were transmitted but she was unable to translate the code. The men she worked with were great guys. Just like the Indian code talkers, the messages were sent in code so the Germans and Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] could not understand. Likewise, Haggerty could not figure out what was being said. It was just random letters and numbers to her. There was also a teletype machine in the proximity but Haggerty was in the radio shack and did not deal with that equipment. Decoding machines were likely upstairs with the officers. Mistakes could be corrected except for extremely bad ones that could result in being kicked out of the Navy. Haggerty only worked the voice microphone once. Some offshore personnel talked back and forth about a potential submarine sighting. Haggerty typed down the discussion but it was garbled. She was later challenged by her superior officer as to why she did not forward the discussion. She was saved from being dismissed from the Navy because the voices were garbled. She could tell that the men were sincere talking about the potential submarine. Though German u-boats [Annotator's Note: German submarines], were in the area, Haggerty could not distinguish any messages about them. Everything was very secret related to those communications.

June Catherine Elliott Haggerty knew very little about World War 1 because she was born in 1920. She learned a little about the war from the movies. One such movie starred Shirley Temple [Annotator's Note: Shirley Temple Black; American entertainer and diplomat]. Haggerty always felt she was treated well as a member of the WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Naval Women's Reserve]. Her life was comfortable enough and food was acceptable during her service. She never had to do mess hall duty since she was in communications. She has no complaints. She entered the service because she wanted to help do what she could. The whole country felt that way. Women worked on ships, planes and so forth for the war effort. Females made good money. Haggerty made the pay equivalent of a sergeant as a 3rd class radioman [Annotator's Note: Radioman 3rd Class]]. Women could do plenty of things during the war to help the effort. Former WAVES had a recent convention on a cruise ship. The other passengers were constantly showing their thanks for their service. Haggerty and the others just wanted to do their duty. Despite some negative press, the WAVES behaved the way they were raised. They were either a lady or they were not. Haggerty rebutted a lady who made negative comments against military females. There were plenty of bad women around who were not in the service. [Annotator's Note: Haggwerty laughs.]

June Catherine Elliott Haggerty does not feel that the war changed her even though some of the times were a bit scary. She enjoyed company with the guys. She eventually married a young man she met in school before her induction. The war separated them even though they corresponded by mail. They reconnected after the war and the couple had 11 children. Her husband, Dan, died in 1984. He was a good guy and a good father. He was a former soldier and Haggerty was discharged from the Navy. The fighting of the war was necessary when the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] came in. It was fortunate that the aircraft carriers were not where the Japs attacked or they could have walked right into the United States [Annotator's Note: presumably referring to the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. The United States was defending the coast with wooden guns and cannons. The enemy did not know that. Watching wartime movies, Haggerty is disturbed when a young man gets killed. She knew so many servicemen at that time. About the time she was born [Annotator's Note: June 1920], Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] was coming to power. It was terrible what he did to the poor Jewish people. Her visit to the Museum in Washington [Annotator's Note: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.] showed her how bad it was for the Jews. Haggerty had terrible reactions to what she saw there. It was horrible. The whole war was awful. Even Bay Saint Louis [Annotator's Note: Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi] had blackouts during the war. Fortunately, Haggerty did not have to go to the fighting fronts. Things that are going on in the world today baffle her. Some negative things remain the same as it was back during the war. The lessons learned from the war helped the country to be more prepared to defend itself. The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is good to help future generations learn about the war. Young people today have their own ideas about what is great. People who participated in the war developed friends. Haggerty never finished college. She took art which did not help her train in radio. She was discharged from the Navy in November 1945 when she became pregnant. The Navy did not accept females who were pregnant. She was married in September and discharged in November. She liked the discipline in the Navy. Everyone learned something from the war. That included sacrifice as well as kindness. Good things came out of the war.