Nobody asked, but somebody told.
Heartbreak and humor from a WAVE who was there
Out of Step by J. Lee Watton is a memoir about a frightening 1965 military witch hunt among Navy Waves. The book, with a foreword by Col. Grethe Cammermeyer, released just as the U.S. military finally lifted the ban on gay people serving openly, gives a compelling, detailed and emotional account of what happened at a Navy training ground in 1965.
During that summer, the Office of Naval Intelligence launched a major inquiry into reports of suspected homosexuality amongst a group of young, spirited, naïve WAVES stationed at the U.S. Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland.
The Navy referred to the inquest by the code name “The Family”. The investigation included daily interrogations and a witch hunt against the women under investigation, their friends and other WAVES whose own careers were threatened. At the time, this investigation encompassed the largest number of WAVES at the same base, to be discharged simultaneously.
At the conclusion of the extensive and terrifying probe, while no attorneys were assigned to represent the defendants and nothing was ever proven, five Waves were discharged. The incident had life-long ramifications for the young women.
Now, 45 years later, journalist Jane “Lee” Watton, one of the discharged WAVES tells the true story of that summer of 1965, with its forbidden desires and lessons learned the hard way - coming full circle with a 21st century reunion for the former Waves and some surprising revelations.
Retired Col. Grethe Cammermeyer, who took on the military herself over Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, says “This book could not be more timely. (It’s) a tender, fragile love story about a “family” of young women growing up in the military, to the beat of a different drummer, and making decisions with lifelong consequences.”
Rev. Dusty Pruitt, who also fought against dismissal says “In this poignant and humorous memoir, Lee Watton has captured the pride, joy, and camaraderie, along with the ultimate shame and heartache of being a lesbian recruit in the Armed Forces, long before the establishment of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
