I recently had the opportunity to record the story of my grandmother in WWII for a storytelling class. It tells the story of how my Nana, Mildred Kaiser, joined the WAVES and served in the Navy during WWII. It follows the timeline of that part of her life. Click here or click the video below to view the digital story!
Thank you to Prof. Kate McDowell and my UIUC Storytelling classmates who inspired me to share this story in a new way! I had previously written about her time in the WAVES in a three-part series.
Sources:
- Personal interviews with Mildred (Kaiser) Drake by EvaAnne Weil and Emily (Drake) Weil, 1998-2015.
- Photos from private collection, Mildred (Kaiser) Drake’s WAVES photo album, 1944-1946.
- Wurlitzer photos from NIU Digital Archives:
- Wurlitzer Building, http://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/rhcrc%3A1312
- Women working at Wurlitzer, http://libguides.niu.edu/c.php?g=113086&p=735627
- Newspaper clipping from Sycamore Tribune, 27 April 1945, digitized at http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/.
- Music from Glenn Miller, In the Mood, from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/USAD201609InTheMood.
The Family History Librarian 
What a great way to extend the reach of Millie’s story!
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