Chief Yeoman US Navy, Mary Elizabeth Etter

Born: December 15, 1917
Died: February 7, 1979

Chief Yeoman Mary Elizabeth Etter enlisted in the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in August of 1943, not long after her brother, who had been taken prisoner at Bataan, was reported missing.¹ By September, she was training at the Naval Training School, Hunter College in Bronx, New York. After this, Seaman 1^st class Etter went to Terminal Island, San Pedro Bay, Long Beach, California for Small Craft Training. December of 1943 saw her promoted to Yeoman 3^rd class as she worked in Naval Communications in Long Beach, making her one of 14,000 yeoman WAVES working stateside.^2,3  As one of the 16,091 employees at the Terminal Island Base, Etter was regularly promoted; in May 1944 to Yeoman 2nd class, in May 1945 to Yeoman 1st class, and in January 1945 to Chief Yeoman.^4,5  Working in Communications, Chief Etter may have heard that her brother was found in September of 1945.⁶ Chief Mary Etter went on vacation from the base on Terminal Island in early July 1946, possibly to see her family, and was officially discharged ten days after she returned.^7,8    

But Chief Etter wasn’t finished. She was still working in Long Beach when her brother passed away in 1947 from an illness contracted while a POW.⁹ Etter was still in Long Beach in 1949, active as the secretary of the U.S.S. Houston Post of American Ex-Prisoners, a society that was originally founded as the Bataan Prisoners Society.^10,11  On the brink of the war in Korea in 1950, she was working at the Naval Receiving Center.¹²

Mary Elizabeth Etter was born to David Ross and Irma Rollette Etter in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on December 15, 1917. She grew up in Albuquerque with her brother, David Jr.^13,14  Etter attended parties with her brother and went to dances after he left home.^15,16  By 1938, having left Albuquerque High School in 1934, she was working as a phone operator for the Albuquerque Gas and Electric Company.¹⁷ In July of 1943, not long after her mother died, she went to visit her father in Gallup, New Mexico, and enlisted in the WAVES in August in Salt Lake City.^18,19  In 1945, her father remarried.²⁰  She lost her brother David in 1947 and her father in 1965.²¹ After leaving Long Beach, California and her Navy employment, Etter worked as a clerk/typist for the Albuquerque Police Department for seven years before her death.²²  Mary Elizabeth Etter passed away in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 7, 1979.

Images & Documents

Notes:

1 & 2. “Etter, Mary Elizabeth – discharge.” Utah State Archives and Records Service; Salt Lake City, Utah; Military Service Cards. 

3. “Woman’s Reserve (WAVES).” Naval History and Heritage Command. 17 October 2022.
4. “Former Long Beach Naval Station.” Naval Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC). Copyright 2023.
5. “Etter, Mary Elizabeth – discharge.” Utah State Archives and Records Service; Salt Lake City, Utah; Military Service Cards.
6. “Etter, David.” Name Range: Reel 067 – Erickson, Fredrick – Fife, Thomas.
7. “Chief Mary Etter.” Long Beach Press-Telegram. Long Beach, California. 14 July 1946.
8. “Etter, Mary Elizabeth – discharge.” Utah State Archives and Records Service; Salt Lake City, Utah; Military Service Cards.
9. “Jap Prison Camp Illness is Fatal to Bataan Vet.” Albuquerque Journal. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 29 March 1947.
10. “News of the Navy Colony.” Long Beach Press-Telegram. Long Beach, California. 27 July 1949.
11. “Ex-War Prisoners Schedule a Meeting.” San Pedro News-Pilot. San Pedro, California. 4 July 1949.
12. “Etter, Mary Elizabeth.” United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950.
13. “Etter.” Year: 1920; Census Place: Albuquerque Ward 4, Bernalillo, New Mexico; Roll: T625_1074; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 21.
14. “Etter.” Year: 1930; Census Place: Albuquerque, Bernalillo, New Mexico; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0018; FHL microfilm: 2341127. 
15. “Gives Party for Son.” Albuquerque Journal. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 21 January 1923.
16. “Joint Hostesses at Dance Party Friday Evening.” Albuquerque Tribune. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 27 October 1933.
17. “Etter, Mary E.” Albuquerque, New Mexico, City Directory, 1938.
18. “Personal Mention.” Gallup Independent. Gallup, New Mexico. p. 4.
19. “Etter, Mary Elizabeth – discharge.” Utah State Archives and Records Service; Salt Lake City, Utah; Military Service Cards.

20 & 21. “Local Woman Succumbs After Illness.” Box Elder Journal. Brigham City, Utah. 27 July 1967. p. 6.  

22. “Etter, Mary Elizabeth.” Albuquerque Journal: Obituaries. Albuquerque, New Mexico. sec. D p. 14.

Featured Image:

“Etter, Mary.” U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012; School Name: Albuquerque High School; Year: 1934 

Compiled by: A. D. McLean, MA, MLIS. Central New Mexico Community College, retired 2022.

DVA, Veterans Legacy Memorial