Constance Cucura

Constance Cucura

Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) Navy

CONSTANCE
CUCURA

Feb 27, 1923 -
BIRTHPLACE: Los Angeles, CA

SOLDIER DETAILS

HIGHEST RANK: Seaman 2nd Class
DIVISION:
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) Navy
THEATER OF OPERATION:
American
SERVED: Oct 1, 1944 -
Apr 5, 1946
HONORED BY: Ike's Soldiers and the Eisenhower Foundation

VIDEOS

BIOGRAPHY

Born Feb 27th, 1923, Constance served in the U.S. Navy Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) Corps, from 1st October 1944 - 5th April 1946. Constance attended Navy WAVES boot camp in San Diego at one of the colleges that were sharing space to train WAVES in basic military procedures before moving on to Advanced training. Constance was a Seaman 2nd Class (S2c) as an office clerk in transportation at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego Ca. She worked at the air tower and assisted with transportation efforts for the Navy moving people around the United States. Constance remembers when NAS North Island was still an Island and you had to transit to it via ferry boats. There was a large staff at the air station and they shared the duties in 3 shifts keeping the air station operating 24 hours a day. Constance originally looked into joining with the Women Air Force Service Pilots but was not accepted due to the drawdown, even having her pilot's license and flight hours. For Cucura, the most memorable thing about World War II was her contribution to the initiation of women in service. She’s proud of the fact that she helped pave the way for today’s service women to have a military career. Constance married her husband Vladamir after college and they had 4 children Serge (Paul), Karen, John, and Deborah. [Biography courtesy of Gold Coast Veterans Foundation and Mickey Strand]