Daisy May Pratt Erd | |
|---|---|
 Daisy Pratt Erd, from a 1918 publication. | |
| Born | 1882 Canada |
| Died | 1925 (aged 42–43) |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ | United States Navy Reserve |
| Rank | Yeoman (F) |
| Spouse(s) | Louis Erd |
| Other work | musician |
Daisy May Pratt Erd USNR (1882-1925) was a Canadian-born American songwriter and composer, and a naval Yeoman (F) in Boston, Massachusetts during World War I. After the war, she advocated for the recognition of women veterans.
Daisy May Pratt was born in Canada [1] and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where she taught music. [2]
Erd was a young mother of two and a piano teacher, when she enlisted in the United States Navy Reserve in 1917. [3] Soon she was the chief yeoman in charge of all the enlisted women working in the Boston Navy Yard. She opened a lunch room for the naval yard's employees, and created the Hingham Naval Training Station Band, for the recreation of recruits with musical skills. [4] Compositions by Erd included "We'll Carry The Star Spangled Banner Thru The Trenches", "Uncle Sam's Ships" (a tribute to the USS Melville), [5] "Welcome Home", and "The Rear Admiral Wood One-Step" (written in honor of Spencer S. Wood). [1] She donated thousands of dollars in profits from these songs to the Naval Reserve Fund and the Naval Relief Society. [6] She was awarded a gold medal in 1918 by William R. Rush, commandant of the naval yard, "for merit, war service". [7]
After her active service, she helped to found the first women's post of the American Legion, in Boston, and was elected as commander of the post. [8] She successfully persuaded the American Legion's national executive committee in Washington D. C. to maintain the unique post's charter and Charlestown location, against some local opposition. [9] She advocated for a state bonus of $100 for women in Massachusetts who served in the Navy, and began a union to improve the women veterans' job prospects. "We did a man's job, and why shouldn't we be treated like the men are treated in the matter of bonuses?" she asked. [10] As a show of appreciation, the women of her American Legion post bought her ringside seats to a boxing match in Boston in 1921, assuring a reporter that "she will be tickled foolish when we tell her that she is going to the fight." [11]
Daisy May Pratt married Louis Erd, a barber. They had two daughters, Norma and Georgia. Daisy Pratt Erd died in 1925, from tuberculosis that she contracted during her naval service. [1]
The fifth USS Boston was a protected cruiser and one of the first steel warships of the "New Navy" of the 1880s. In some references she is combined with Atlanta as the Atlanta class, in others as the Boston class.
William Veazie Pratt was an admiral in the United States Navy. He served as the President of the Naval War College from 1925 to 1927, and as the 5th Chief of Naval Operations from 1930 to 1933.
USS Stribling (DD-96) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and the years following. She was the first ship named in honor of Cornelius Stribling.
USS Chattanooga (C-16/PG-30/CL-18) was a Denver-class protected cruiser in the United States Navy during World War I. She was the second Navy ship named for the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
USS Salem (CS-3/CL-3), Scout Cruiser No. 3, was a Chester-class scout cruiser of the United States Navy. She was the first Navy ship named for the city of Salem, Massachusetts.
USS Tucker was the lead ship of her class of destroyers built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel named for Samuel Tucker.
USS Conyngham was a Tucker-class destroyer built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel named for Gustavus Conyngham.
Loretta Perfectus Walsh became the first American active-duty Navy woman, the first woman to enlist in the U.S. Navy, and the first woman allowed to serve as a woman in any of the United States armed forces, as anything other than as a nurse, when she enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve on March 17, 1917. Walsh subsequently became the first woman U.S. Navy petty officer when she was sworn in as Chief Yeoman on March 21, 1917.
Yeoman (F) was an enlisted rate for women in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War I. The first Yeoman (F) was Loretta Perfectus Walsh. At the time, the women were popularly referred to as "yeomanettes" or even "yeowomen", although the official designation was Yeoman (F).
Charlotte Louise Berry Winters was, at age 109, the last surviving female American veteran of The First World War.
USS Finch (AM-9) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing. Finch was named for the finch, and is strictly speaking the only U.S. vessel named for such.
USLHT Azalea was an American lighthouse tender that operated in the fleet of the United States Lighthouse Board from 1891 to 1910 and of the United States Lighthouse Service from 1910 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1933. During and in the immediate aftermath of World War I, she served in the United States Navy as USS Azalea from 1917 to 1919. During World War II, she became the U.S. Navy seaplane tender USS Christiana (YAG-32) in 1942.
SS Dakotan was a cargo ship built in 1912 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company that served as a transport ship in the United States Army Transport Service in World War I, and then was transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease in World War II before being finally scrapped in 1969. During World War I, she was taken over by the United States Army as USAT Dakotan. Near the end of that war she was transferred to the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Dakotan (ID-3882). During World War II, the ship was transferred to the Soviet Union and renamed SS Zyrianin.
USS Rivalen (SP-63) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
The yeoman rate is one of the oldest rates in the US Navy, dating back to 1794. Historically, the Navy yeomen were responsible for keeping the storerooms for the ship's gunners, carpenters, and boatswains. With the transition from sail to steam, yeomen were assigned to the ship's engineers. In the modern Navy, a yeoman is an enlisted service member who performs administrative and clerical work.
USS Aloha (SP-317) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
Soon after the United States entered World War I, Actus (SP-516) — a yacht constructed in 1907 at Neponset, Massachusetts, by George Lawley & Sons — was taken over by the US Navy as a section patrol craft from Mr. E. B. Dane; commissioned on 1 April 1917, with Ensign H. A. D. Cameron, USNR, in command; and, on 26 May 1917, over a month later, formally purchased by the Government.
USS Liberty III (SP-1229), sometimes written Liberty # 3, and also referred to during her naval career as Liberty and as Pilot Boat Liberty, No. 3, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919. The Liberty, was a pilot boat from 1896-1917. She was a replacement for the pilot boat D. J. Lawlor. After World War I, the Liberty returned to pilot service until 1934 when she was purchased as a yacht.
Rear Admiral Spencer Shepard Wood was a United States Navy officer. His career included service in the Spanish–American War and World War I, command of battleships and cruisers, and duty as an aide to a number of senior naval leaders.
We'll Carry The Star Spangled Banner Thru The Trenches is a World War I song written by Daisy May Pratt Erd. The song was first published in 1917 by Lang & Mendelsohn in Boston MA. The sheet music cover depicts soldiers advancing over barbed wire with a flag waving.
