The Reminiscences of Capt. Winifred Quick Collins, USN (Ret.) (1911-1999)

This memoir covers the experiences of a naval pioneer. Collins was among the first officers accepted when the WAVES were established in 1942; one of the first female officers commissioned in the regular Navy, which happened in 1948; and at the top of her profession as the only woman line captain at the end of her career. She was selected for the Navy experience as the result of being one of the first five women to undergo Harvard Business School training, which she studied at Radcliffe College in 1937–38. She received naval officer training at Smith College in 1942 and subsequently served there as personnel officer until 1944. She served 1944–46 as a personnel officer for the 14th Naval District in Hawaii and from 1946–1950 with the Potomac River Command and Bureau of Naval Personnel. She was on the staff of the Secretary of Defense, 1950–51. After postgraduate study at Stanford University, 1951–52, she was personnel officer on the 12th Naval District staff, San Francisco, from 1952–1956. She served 1956–57 on the staff of Commander in Chief U.S. Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean (CinCNELM) in London. Her final tour of active duty, 1957–62, was as Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Women.