Captain Joy Bright Hancock, U.S. Navy
Helping Pave the Way for Women to be Part of the United States Navy
Oct 16, 2009
She was born Joy Bright on May 4, 1898, the third of six children. Father William Bright was a real estate and insurance agent with a healthy business developing New Jersey’s shoreline. A man with many hats, he was also active in other businesses and politics, serving as tax collector, sheriff of Cape May County, mayor of Wildwood, New Jersey and bank director.
Mother Priscilla Bright helped her husband with business and politics and was active in the women’s suffrage movement. It was not unusual to have Carrie Chapman Catt or Jane Addams visit the Bright home.
Bright began her extraordinary life by playing basketball in school, considered an unusual activity for girls at that time. She showed a good head for business by helping her father in his office and a mechanical aptitude by repairing bicycles, changing car tires, painting and carpentry.
Bright attended the Pierce School of Business Administration. But with the advent of World War I, her plans to pursue a business career changed.
Joining the Navy
Bright wanted to help with the war effort and the Navy allowing women to volunteer during World War I presented her the opportunity. Bright joined the Navy as a yeoman (F) first class - (F) for female. She soon advanced to chief yeoman and served as a courier at the Camden shipyard. She was transferred to the Naval Air Station at Cape May.
Once World War I was over, Bright remained as a civilian employee to help decommission the station. During this time, Bright met and married her first husband Lieutenant Charles G. Little. It was a short marriage ending in tragedy: Little was killed during a test of his airship in England within several months of marriage.
Bright continued working in the Naval Air division, editing the newsletter and setting up personnel files for naval aviators. Anxious to learn more, Bright accepted an assignment at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst. The navy was conducting research into the use of lighter-than-air aircraft such as the zeppelins used in Europe.
At this juncture, Bright met and married her second husband, Lieutenant Commander Lewis Hancock. Hancock was one of the crewmembers of the American airship Shenandoah. The two married in 1924 but less than a year and a half later, Hancock was killed when the Shenandoah crashed during a storm.
Bright was only twenty-seven years old and twice-widowed. Emotional exhaustion led to illness and Bright spent some time traveling around the world accompanied by her sister. Foreign travel sparked an interest in a career with the U.S. Foreign Service. She attended the Crawford Foreign Service School, but failed to pass the oral examinations.
Instead of being discouraged, Bright got busy. She took flying lessons to overcome her fear of flying. She earned a student pilot’s license, but discovered she was more interested in plane engines . She became adept at plane engine assembly and maintenance and felt that more women could be as capable with the job as she.
She rejoined the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics in 1930, editing the newsletter and writing aviation articles for other publications. She also wrote her first book “Airplanes in Action” in 1938.
Women in the Navy in World War II
By this time, another war was looming. Despite the experience during WWI, America was slow to incorporate women into the military. It took Bright volunteering to visit Canadian air facilities - already using women in their air force - and reporting on the success to convince Congress to authorize the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Naval Reserve, nicknamed WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).
Bright joined the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant. She constantly pressed the Navy into using women in as many positions as possible, even some considered “unconventional.” From her own experience, she knew women could be aviation machinist’s mates, working on airplane engines as she, herself, was capable of doing. “Rosie the Riveter” set a precedent for Bright: thousands of women were already working in factories building the very planes the Navy was reluctant to allow them to service. With this precedent and Bright’s persistence, the Navy finally relented to allow women to train alongside men to be aviation machinist’s mates.
With Bright’s energy and enthusiasm, she was able to help the WAVES to grow to 8,000 officers and 78,000 enlisted women.
Once World War II was over, disbandment of the WAVES commenced. However, there were many woman, like Bright herself, who wished to remain active with the Navy. Through further efforts and a Congressional hearing in 1947, Bright ensured that women could be a permanent part of regular or reserve Naval service.
Retirement From the Navy
Bright retired as WAVES director in 1953 and was awarded the Legion of Merit for her service. Retirement didn‘t slow Bright. After living for a period of time in St. Croix, the Virgin Islands, Bright returned to her home in Wildwood, New Jersey. She renewed an old friendship with Vice Admiral Ralph A. Ofstie, from her days at the Naval Air Station, and they were married in 1954. After only a year, the admiral fell ill and died.
Now thrice-widowed, Bright still continued an active life. She studied French and traveled. She studied television and radio writing in D.C. She returned to Wildwood and managed her father’s insurance company and helped her brother run the Wildwood Yacht Basin.
Bright was honored in both her hometown as well as in her state. She wrote a second book, “Lady in the Navy” (Bluejacket Books, 2002).
Bright died at a U.S. Navy retirement home in Virginia August 20, 1986.
Joy Bright Hancock Organization
The Joy Bright Hancock Organization began as a women’s organization at the U.S. Naval Academy. It allows female midshipmen the opportunity to meet and discuss issues relevant to women in the Navy. However, it is open to all midshipmen, but it tends to primarily draw a female audience.
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