 AWVS members in various AWVS uniforms, 1942 | |
| Formation | 1940 |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Service |
Region served | United States |
The American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS) was the largest American women's service organization in the United States during World War II (WWII).[1] It is estimated that over 325,000 women took part in the AWVS.[2] The AWVS was comprised of volunteers who provided support services to help the nation during the war such as message delivery, ambulance driving, selling war bonds, emergency kitchens, cycle corps drivers, dog-sled teamsters, aircraft spotters, navigation, aerial photography, fighting fires, truck driving, and canteen workers.[2] Some of its work overlapped with the Office of Civilian Defense and the American Red Cross.[3]
Alice Throckmorton McLean founded the AWVS in January 1940[4], 23 months before the United States entered the war, basing it upon the British Women's Voluntary Services[5], to help prepare the nation for an eventual war. Most of the founders were wealthy internationalist women, and its headquarters was in New York City, making America's isolationists suspicious of the AWVS. Others saw the organization as being alarmist. Despite these concerns, the AWVS had about 18,000 members by the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.[4] Eventually over 325,000 women took part in the AWVS.[2][5] Doris Ryer Nixon founded the California chapter in August 1941 and was eventually elected national vice-president of the AWVS.[6] Nixon is the mother of Lewis Nixon III, an Army paratrooper officer during World War II who is featured prominently in Band of Brothers.[7][8][9]
The AWVS was an integrated organization, which was very rare at the time, incorporating African American and Hispanic women into its ranks. [4][5] By 1944, despite hundreds of thousands of volunteers and large efforts that helped win the war, the AWVS continued to receive negative attention in the press, and the leaders decided to disband the organization at the end of the war. [10] Some members and leaders supported this move because the AWVS was formed for the specific purpose of supporting the war, which had been won.[4] However, volunteers once associated with the AWVS continued to provide services to the military at AWVS canteens through the Korean conflict and Viet Nam war[11].
Notable Hollywood women who were AWVS members included Joan Crawford,[12] Hattie McDaniel,[13] Betty White and Lillian Randolph.[14] The AWVS inspired other volunteer service groups, such as "Laguna Cottages for Seniors".[6]
See also[]
Notes[]
- ↑ "Partners in Winning the War: American Women in WWII". National Women's History Museum. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20110605195954/http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/partners/33.htm. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 https://www.womenshistory.org/resources/general/home-front
- ↑ "CIVILIAN DEFENSE: The Ladies!". 26 Jan 1942. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,932330,00.html. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Weatherford, Doris (2010). American Women During WWII. New York: Taylor & Francis. pp. 21–23. ISBN 0-203-87066-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=F5wukQLkavoC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=awvs+end&source=bl&ots=vHdWJ2-ul7&sig=lLgpcLP1O2XJ6KvzjvQRIPGEyPI&hl=en&ei=9c3GTYilGIfV0QGY44GqCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=awvs%20end&f=false.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Yellin, Emily (2004). Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II. New York: Free Press. pp. 172, 209–210. ISBN 0-7432-4516-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=BcQDE0Ce9GAC&pg=PA172&dq=awvs&cd=5#v=onepage&q=AWVS&f=false.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Redmond, Michael (20 Jun 2009). "Laguna Cottages History of Senior Living Housing". http://www.independent.com/news/2009/jun/20/laguna-cottages/. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ↑ "Blanche Nixon to Make Debut". Los Angeles Times. December 18, 1941. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/414225591.html?dids=414225591:414225591&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+18,+1941&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Blanche+Nixon+to+Make+Debut&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2010-03-22. "Blanche Nixon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanhope Nixon of ... Cold Spring Road, Montecito, a freshman at Stanford, will be formally to society at the San ..."
- ↑ "Social Notes," New York Times 1922-03-23 (announcing birth) and "Died," New York Times, 1922-05-23 (announcing death).
- ↑ "Drama: Band of Brothers". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/bandofbrothers/. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ↑ Reference needed.
- ↑ https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=22951
- ↑ Quirk, Lawrence J. (2002). Joan Crawford: the essential biography. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press. p. 124. ISBN 0-8131-2254-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=_yQtRavDvtUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=crawfrod+quirk&cd=1#v=snippet&q=volunteer&f=false.
- ↑ "Network and Local Radio Listings". The Sunday Sun. 4 Jan 1942. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jBZlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UYkNAAAAIBAJ&pg=932,297134&dq=lillian+randolph&hl=en. Retrieved 8 Jan 2011.
- ↑ Rea, E.B. (8 May 1943). "Encores and Echoes". Baltimore Afro-American. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UmBGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=huUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4128,948388&dq=lillian+randolph&hl=en. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
External links[]
- Bill Guarnere site, who served with Lewis Nixon, discussion about AWVS
- History of British Women's Voluntary Service
- Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, American Women's Voluntary Services badge
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro, American Women's Voluntary Services garrison cap, c. 1942
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro, American Women's Voluntary Services legionnaire kepi, c. 1942
The original article can be found at American Women's Voluntary Services and the edit history here.