Photographed in 1942-43, while serving as Director of the W.A.V.E.S.

Mildred Helen McAfee was born in Parkville, Missouri, on 12 May 1900. She graduated from Vassar College in 1920 and
received the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1928. Miss McAfee pursued a career in higher
education and became President of Wellesley College in 1936. Taking a leave of absence from that position, she became the
Navy's first female line officer on 3 August 1942. Commissioned a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve, she
simultaneously undertook the demanding task of Director of the Navy's newly-established Women's Reserve.
In November 1943, following the passage of new legislation by the Congress, she was promoted to the rank of Captain.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.