ORLANDO, Fla. – In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Navy Women’s Reserve Act into law which created what was commonly known as the WAVES – Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.
The program was a division of the U.S. Navy created during World War II to free up male personnel for sea duty, according to the Department of Defense.
The majority of WAVES worked in clerical, health care, or storekeeper billets. At the time, they were prohibited from serving on ships or overseas, but that rule was later changed.
Not long after, in 1943, a young lady working in a drug store in Bessemer, Alabama knew that she wanted to see the world. A Navy recruiter came into the store with a member of the WAVES and told her, “You know, you can wear a uniform just like that.”
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Ima Black knew her dream had come true. After going to Birmingham to take the entry test, she said the recruiter told her to go home to think about it, and come back the next day to enlist, but Ima had already made her decision.
“I said ‘No, I don’t want to wait until tomorrow, I want to do it right now,” Ima recalled. “In the basement of the recruiting office in Birmingham, Alabama, looked out the window, saw Old Glory waving in the breeze and I held up my hand, and I enlisted in the Navy, and I never regretted it. It was the greatest thing that I ever did.”
She did in fact join the Navy and proudly served until 1947. After she was discharged, she continued her service in another way, working for the Navy Exchange as a civilian until her retirement.
Speaking of FDR, Ima will tell you – her memory is tack sharp – that while stationed in the Washington D.C. area, she did go “A-W-O-L one time,” but for a good reason.
Ima and a friend knew that after Roosevelt’s death, he was to be interred at Arlington National Cemetery, but they didn’t have liberty passes to leave the base.
They managed to get off base and made their way to Arlington where she remembered standing graveside of the president and “because we were in uniform, I guess they let us stand on the ropes, so we were standing right over the grave. And directly across from me sat Eleanor Roosevelt and her family,” Ima said.
The pair did get caught when returning to the base and were put on report, but said the incident was not entered on her service record.
“She had a little heart after all,” Ima recalled, speaking of her commanding officer.
Her husband, Delbert D. Black served 30 years in the Navy, becoming the first person to reach the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, or MCPON. During his time in the military, he served on nine ships, totaling 21 years spent at sea.
Ima will proudly tell you that her husband has a ship named after him – specifically an Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided-missile destroyer. The USS Delbert D. Black was commissioned on Sept. 26, 2020.
When asked by the commanding officer of the USS Delbert D. Black what she wanted for her 100th birthday, Ida said she wanted to take a helicopter ride – and take that ride she did.
She was able to get a bird’s eye view of the ship named after her husband, doors open on the helicopter as she waved proudly at the ship.
Ima recently celebrated her 102nd birthday at her retirement community in Winter Park and was greeted with a round of applause by crew and former crew of the USS Delbert D. Black, who sang her happy birthday to help celebrate her big day.
That’s not all, Ima Black even has a page dedicated to her on the Navy’s website.
When asked about her secret to living such a long and fulfilling life, Ima said, “I would like to tell you that I have this secret potion that I take daily that keeps me young, but I know this. Up in heaven, there is a book, and my name is written in that book. Date of arrival –unknown.”