By Luke Lorenz
Manager of Government Affairs
Navy League of the United States
This is part of an ongoing series, where we look at the lives and legacies of U.S. sea service men and women.
A little more than a century ago, in the year 1917, a young woman named Julia Rhinehart became one of the first women to enter the Navy Reserve. An order from the Secretary of the Navy, issued in March of 1917, propelled the recruitment of female clerks, electricians, accountants and other positions, which would free up male Sailors for more frontline occupations. This directive would pave the way for further gender integration of the military in the years and decades to come.
Julia was among the first to serve in the clerical occupation of Yeoman, but she was not alone. More than 11,000 “Yeomanettes” served during the brief period between the issuance of the secretary’s directive in March of 1917 to the end of the war in November of 1918. While they did not go through basic training, they were required to pass a physical exam and attend night classes on Navy procedures and regulations.
The women worked long shifts six days a week. None saw active combat, but their work along heavily trafficked waterways and naval bases did put them right in the crosshairs of the deadly Spanish Flu, which swept across the globe in 1918. More than a few of Julia’s compatriots succumbed to this terrible illness and Julia contracted it herself but was able to recover.
After her discharge she married William Powell, an Army veteran. Because of his military status, Powell was able to secure Julia a plot at Arlington National Cemetery when she passed away in 1957. He soon joined her. It would not be until the year 2000 that Julia’s military service was recognized and her headstone replaced from that of a military spouse to that of a veteran.