Storekeeper Petty Officer Third Class, US Navy, Mildred Rose Hybl Komarek

Born: December 16, 1920, Chicago, Illinois 
Died: June 10, 2000, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Mildred R. Hybl (Komarek), Storekeeper Petty Officer 3^rd Class began her service with the US Navy as one of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) on May 4, 1944.¹ She would have been sent to a Naval Training facility for four weeks most probably at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York. When her training was completed, Seaman Hybl would have been asked where she wanted to serve since her preferences were taken into consideration, but she would have been sent to where she was most needed.² These places might have included “Miami, San Diego, Norfolk, Washington, D.C. the Navy Yard at Boston, the Naval Air bases at Corpus Christi or Jacksonville or any other Naval shore establishment where a well-trained woman can replace a man.”³ It is difficult to know exactly where Hybl Komarek was stationed as the records do not say and “WAVES filled billets at 900 locations on shore. […] While 38 ratings were open to women, the majority of WAVES worked in clerical, health care, or storekeeper billets.”⁴

Today, it seems that being a storekeeper isn’t a very important thing to do, but it must be remembered that every job a WAVE filled, gained one male who could serve overseas as WAVES could not.⁵ Storekeeper is a vital job for the Navy, as they are concerned with all supplies:

“For some WAVES and SPARs, “storekeeping” referred to actually working in a shop on Navy bases. But for others, it meant offering support to get goods and services to Navy and Coast Guard stations around the globe. The Navy Exchange was the on-base store where personnel could purchase various goods. WAVES and SPARs worked in the stores, but they also worked behind the scenes at bases, running the accounting and bookkeeping for the bases and making sure that incoming ships were properly stocked.” ⁶

In this vital role, Hybl Komarek was hard-working enough to gain the rank of Storekeeper Petty Officer 3^rd Class. Perhaps she even served in multiple stations as the Navy made many WAVES “floating workers moving where the Navy and Coast Guard needed them most.”⁷ After steadfast service, Storekeeper Petty Officer Hybl was honorably discharged on May 4, 1946, at the end of the war.⁸

Born to Martin Sr., a Czechoslovakian immigrant, and Mae Hybl on December 16, 1920, was a daughter they named Mildred Rose.⁹ She grew up in Chicago, Illinois, where she was born, with two sisters and a brother.¹⁰ After her service in the Navy, she returned to her family in Chicago where she ran a beauty shop making use of skills learned as a storekeeper in the WAVES.¹¹

In 1952, she married Emil Komarek, son of Czechoslovakian parents, who had also been born and raised in Chicago.^12,13 Service was something else they had in common as he served in World War II in the US Army from 1941 to 1945.¹⁴ He had always been interested in electronics, and after the War, he became a highly trained electronic engineer and worked for Sandia National Laboratories from 1952 to 1986.¹⁵ While in Albuquerque, Hybl Kormarek raised three children while participating in the WAVES National and WAVES Road Runner, Unit No. 4, of New Mexico, the Sierra Club, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Center for Marine Conservation, and the Harbor Lights Collectors Society.¹⁶ Her family remembered her for her love of houseplants, collecting lighthouses, cooking, reading, crossword puzzles, traveling, and ping-pong.¹⁷

Mildred Rose Hybl Komarek passed away on June 10, 2000.

Images & Documents

1. “Komarek, Mildred R.” U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line].
2 & 3. How to Serve Your Country in the WAVES. Found at Naval History and Heritage Command. 16 October 2019. p. 9.
4. “Woman’s Reserve (WAVES).” Naval History and Heritage Command. 17 October 2022. para. 7.
5. How to Serve Your Country in the WAVES. Found at Naval History and Heritage Command. 16 October 2019. p. 9.
6. “Storekeepers and Other Support Work.” Homefront Heroines: The WAVES of World War II. Copyright 2023. para. 1 & 2.
7. “Storekeepers and Other Support Work.” Homefront Heroines: The WAVES of World War II. Copyright 2023. para. 4.
8. “Komarek, Mildred R.” U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. This site has Hybl Komarek leaving on 4 May, the same date as her entry. The BIRLS cites her discharge as April 5, 1946.
9. “Hybl.” Year: 1930; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois.
10. “Hybl.” Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois.
11. “Hybl.” National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950.
12. Komarek/Hybl marriage 1952.” Cook County Clerk; Chicago, Il; Cook County Genealogy Records (Marriages).
13. “Komarek.” Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois.
14 & 15. “Komarek, Emil E.” Albuquerque Journal Obituaries. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 28 December 2014. sec. B p. 5.
16 & 17. “Komarek, Mildred R.” Albuquerque Journal Obituaries. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 14 June 2000, online.

Featured Image:

“Mildred Rose Hybl Komarek.” Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17563836/mildred-rose-komarek: accessed 17 July 2023), memorial page for Mildred Rose Hybl Komarek (16 Dec 1920–10 Jun 2000), Find a Grave Memorial ID 17563836, citing Santa Fe National Cemetery, Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, USA; Maintained by Anonymous (contributor 8021295).

Related Links:

How to Serve Your Country in the WAVES. Found at Naval History and Heritage Command.16 October 2019. Retrieved: 18 July 2023. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/h/how-to-serve-your-country-in-the-WAVES.html

 “Storekeepers and Other Support Work.” Homefront Heroines: The WAVES of World War II. Copyright 2023. Retrieved: 14 July 2023. https://www.homefrontheroines.com/waves-stories/storekeepers/

“Woman’s Reserve (WAVES).” Naval History and Heritage Command. 17 October 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2023. https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/diversity/women-in-the-navy/waves.html

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