What might have caused such diversity and co-operation in the WAVES, and how do you think this changed after the war, if at all?

Barnard's Virginia Gildersleeve noticed in the marching WAVES "a remarkable cross section of the women of the United States of America, from all our economic and social classes ... and from all our multitude of racial origins and religions."

I think the WAVES came into their own after the war. They made an impression on Americans at a time when women just didn't do that.