Yeoman Second Class US Navy, Pansy Sue Frazier Knapp

Born: December 18, 1917
Died: August 25, 2009

Yeoman 2^nd Class Pansy Sue Frazier (Knapp) joined the US Navy as a Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in July of 1943.¹ Enlistment for a WAVE was the duration of the war plus six months, and that is what the dedicated Yeoman Frazier served as she would be released in February 1946.² As an enlisted WAVE, she likely trained for the Navy at Hunter College, Bronx New York, or one of the other campuses across the US reserved to train the enlisted WAVES. Since she was a yeoman, she probably trained in either Cedar Falls, Iowa, or Stillwater, Oklahoma, since these were two of the most common places to receive yeoman training.^3,4 “The vast majority of WAVES and SPARs served as yeomen, the Navy’s classification for secretarial work. They served in bases all over the continental United States, and eventually overseas in Alaska and Hawaii.”⁵ Yeoman Frazier had recently graduated from college as a school teacher before her enlistment. It was a pity that the WAVES didn’t give her officer rank and make her a teacher of her fellow WAVES, but she may have felt that didn’t free up a male member of the Navy for active service as much as taking over his clerical job. 

No matter which yeoman training school she attended, Frazier Knapp would have learned the basics: Naval nomenclature and abbreviations, naval regulations, official form preparation, ship and shore organization, naval filing systems, and official naval publications.⁶ Spelling was also on the curriculum, but as a newly qualified school teacher, Frazier Knapp didn’t need to learn to spell common words. One yeoman trainee remembered how friendly and welcoming everyone in the nearby town was planning dances, where young men not yet old enough to serve in the armed forces served as dance partners, and even having the yeoman trainees to dinner in private homes.⁷ Once finished with training, a yeoman was allowed to choose three places she wanted to serve from a list. It is not recorded where Yeoman Frazier served, but she served well; she left yeoman school a Yeoman 3^rd class and was promoted to Yeoman 2^nd class for her work.

Pansy Sue Frazier was born to Fredrick and Mildred Frazier of Louisa, Kentucky, on December 18, 1917. Her father worked construction and moved around a good deal. Her parents, two sisters, and four brothers were the only constant companions throughout her childhood. The family left Kentucky and lived in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Indiana, and possibly even moved to Iowa, as Frazier Knapp attended college in Dubuque, Iowa.^8,9,10,11 It is not surprising that she would become a school teacher as she excelled in school and enjoyed it.^12,13

After Frazier Knapp’s work for the US Navy during the war, she married Fred Merritt Knapp and lived in Peoria, Illinois, where she resumed her career as a school teacher.^14,15 She taught at Garfield Elementary in Peoria for many years.¹⁶ Fred Knapp was a construction iron worker, and they moved to Dallas in the 1970s.¹⁷ By 1986, the Knapps would retire to Belen, New Mexico, where she remained a substitute teacher until she turned 80.¹⁸ It was there Frazier Knapp lost her husband in 1990.¹⁹ Sometime after his death, she moved to Rogers, Arkansas, near her daughter.²⁰ Pansy Sue Frazier Knapp passed away August 25, 2009, and was buried in New Mexico with her husband.

Images & Documents

“WAVES Lead Busy Lives at Cedar Falls” The Gazette

“WAVES Lead Busy Lives at Cedar Falls.” The Gazette. Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 13 June 1943. Retrieved: 14 July 2023. https://www.newspapers.com/image/548393262 

​Notes:

1.  “Pansy Sue Knapp.” Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
2.  “Pansy Sue Knapp.” Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
3. “WAVES Lead Busy Lives at Cedar Falls.” The Gazette. Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 13 June 1943. p. 3.
4. “Woman’s Reserve (WAVES).” Naval History and Heritage Command. 17 October 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
5. “Yeoman.” Homefront Heroines: The WAVES of World War II. para.1
6. “WAVES Lead Busy Lives at Cedar Falls.” The Gazette. Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 13 June 1943. p. 3.
7. “Anna Fogelman: Anna’s Oral History part 1.” Homefront Heroines: The WAVES of World War II. Copyright 2023. Location: 42:17-46:27.
8. “Frazier.” Year: 1930; Census Place: Hallam, York, Pennsylvania; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0034; FHL microfilm: 2341899.
9. “Frazier.” Year: 1940; Census Place: Ketchum, Craig, Oklahoma; Roll: m-t0627-03287; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 18-24.
10. “Frazier, Pansy Student.” Title: Dubuque, Iowa, City Directory, 1937.
11. “Fourth Grade.” Newburgh Register. Newburgh, Indiana. 4 November 1927. p. 1.
12. “Fourth Grade.” Newburgh Register. Newburgh, Indiana. 4 November 1927. p. 1.
13. “Perfect Attendance.” York Dispatch. York, Pennsylvania. 6 June 1930. p. 28.
14. “Knapp.” United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950.
15. “Knapp, Pansy Sue School Teacher.” Title: Peoria, Illinois, City Directory, 1952.
16. “Pansy Sue Frazier Knapp.” Find a Grave, database and images memorial page for Pansy Sue Frazier Knapp (18 Dec 1917–25 Aug 2009).
17.  “Knapp, Fred (Sue).” Title: Polk´s Greater Dallas City Directory, 1971.  And  “Knapp, Fred (Sue).” Title: Polk´s Greater Dallas City Directory, 1973.
18. “Knapp, Fred (Sue).” Title: Polk´s Greater Dallas City Directory, 1971.  And  “Knapp, Fred (Sue).” Title: Polk´s Greater Dallas City Directory, 1973.
19. “Knapp, Fred Merritt.” Albuquerque Journal: Obituaries. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 3 December 1990. sec. C p. 11.
20. “Pansy Sue Frazier Knapp.” Find a Grave, database and images memorial page for Pansy Sue Frazier Knapp (18 Dec 1917–25 Aug 2009).

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

Featured Image:

“Pansy Sue Frazier Knapp.” Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41193622/pansy-sue-knapp: accessed 12 July 2023), memorial page for Pansy Sue Frazier Knapp (18 Dec 1917–25 Aug 2009), Find a Grave Memorial ID 41193622, citing Santa Fe National Cemetery, Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, USA; Maintained by BJW (contributor 47343717).