Spc. Jean Logan

In 1943 artist Francis V. Kughler, Hudson River Museum Director H. Armour Smith and Women’s Army Corps recruiter Joanne Coates conceived a plan to encourage women of Yonkers to enlist in the army and honor their contribution. Every Yonkers woman who joined the WACs would have her portrait made in oil or pastel by Kughler.

Factory jobs and air warden shifts were not the only ways to contribute to the war effort. Jean Logan, a Navy WAVE specialist 3rd class, had been a radio entertainer and so used her singing talent, along with others WAVEs, at a “Stay Home Night” in Hastings-on-Hudson. The federal government encouraged citizens to patronize entertainment close to home to conserve gas and tires and to keep transportation arteries free of non-essential traffic.

Not long after she enlisted, Jean became engaged to Midshipman John H. Dorsay, U.S. Navy Reserve.