Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Ardath Jo Green Papers, 1944-2005 and undated. Accession 50240. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Ardath Jo Green, via Barbara P. Owens, Richmond, 28 November 2011.

Biographical Information

Ardath Jo Green was born on 24 June 1923 in Pennington Gap, Lee County, Virginia, the daughter of Etta Ellison Green (1886-1980) and John Wallace Green (1867-1937). The family later added a brother, Fred Hamilton Green (1930-1989). On 19 August 1943, Ardath Jo Green enlisted with the Women's Reserve of the U.S. Navy. In 1948, she and a colleague were the first two women in the Fifth Naval District to be sworn in as members of the regular Navy, following the passage of the Women's Armed Service Integration Act in June of that year. Her 24-year military career included three tours at the Recruit Training Center in Bainbridge, Maryland (from which she retired as a Chief Disbursing Clerk in 1967). Among the many roles she took on over the course of her military service were Chief Master-at-arms, WAVE barracks, U.S. Naval Hospital, St. Albans, N.Y.; assisting in planning the WAVES barracks at Brooklyn, N.Y.; working in the Disbursing Office at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida; and serving as Company Commander for eight recruit companies (in her second tour at Bainbridge). Green has also resided in Prince George and Henrico Counties, Virginia.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1944-2005, of Ardath Jo Green (1923- ) a native of Pennington Gap, Lee County, Virginia, and a veteran of nearly 24 years of service with the United States Navy, beginning in 1943. Items collected here include several photographs of Green and comrades in uniform. Many were taken at the Recruit Training Center in Bainbridge, Maryland, where she completed three tours, and from which she retired as a Chief Disbursing Clerk in 1967. Also included are newspaper clippings, programs from WAVES reunions in 1947 and 1948, a 1949 letter from a Navy chaplain in Norfolk to Green's mother commending Jo's participation with the chapel choir, and photographs of Green reuniting with fellow servicewomen, 2005 and undated.