Story of the Month: April 2013

"In the early days of World War Two; … I was intrigued that the Coast Guard was patrolling…. The east coast," Captain Vivian Jean Reese Harned remembered on a windswept spring day in McLean, Virginia during an interview with a United States Navy Memorial film crew. Captain Harned recalled, "I had been teaching school which I detested, but in those days as a woman graduate of college, the only thing you could be was a teacher so I guess I was looking for a way out." She remarked that, "I always wanted to travel," and her intrigue and interest in the United States Coast Guard grew more and more each day.

The intrigue turned into inquiry which led her to a recruiting station. Remembering the experience many decades ago, she stated, "When you teach school, you very well have to know if you are coming back in September or you aren’t coming back so I thought the best thing I could do was enlist." Much to her mother’s concern, Harned, a young Pennsylvania school teacher, remembered the beginning of her service career vividly, "I think I knew that I did not want to stay home, when the guys left [to go to war] I was going with them; that’s all there is to it…" Still elated from the experience and the moment she signed her name at the recruitment station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her desire to serve her country would lead to training in Florida.

Captain Harned spoke of her first experience learning to become a member of the United States Coast Guard recalling, "We were sent to Palm Beach, Florida for training, there was not a whole lot of people there, there was not a big crowd like there would be in later years…having been a teacher they used me a lot in things like training." Her experience in the classroom made her stand out to her instructors, which opened up new doors for her first assignment to the Third Coast Guard District in New York City.

Remembering her first assignment she also recalled the challenges she faced being a woman, "It was very difficult," she remarked, "…you have to remember now that I had been a school teacher and I had a very good education… and a majority of enlisted men did not have one and [when] I was transferred to New York City … mostly there was a resentment that we were coming in…there was a lot of resentment." This new challenge presented new opportunity, she shared, "It was hard, some of them didn’t want to work for you at all, and some worked resentfully, other ones were very glad to work for you." She gazed forward, remembering a Warrant Officer who took her under his wing, being one of the only women in the department. Her inspiring interview continues with personal triumph and achievement from the home front to the far-east, including her service in the rebuilding of Japan and more.

The United States Navy Memorial honors Captain Vivian Jean Reese Harned, featured within this series titled, Stories of Service, Story of the Month. Each month, this series honors a Veteran’s story recorded by the Stories of Service Program at the Navy Memorial.

To learn more about this story and to explore the Navy Memorial Stories Interview archive, visit the Navy Memorial Stories of Service site at http://navymemorial.org/stories-of-service