U.S. NAVY Mary Jane Chase Miller   In 1943, Mary Jane Chase Miller, then age 20, decided it was time to do her wartime duty. A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, she had grown up in Chevy Chase, Md., where her lawyer father worked at the claims division of the Veterans Administration. At the time she was considering her service options, her University of Maryland class hosted a visit from a WAC (Women’s Army Corps) recruiter. Then came a visit from a recruiter for the Navy’s WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). Miller considered. Her brother-in-law was in the Navy. Her mother worked in the Navy Bureau of Ordnance. And — most compellingly — “I looked better in Navy blue than I did in khaki.” The Navy sent her to Smith College in Northampton, Mass., for two months of training. On graduation from midshipman’s training school, she was commissioned an ensign. Miller was posted to the Navy Communications School at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. On graduation, she reported for duty at the Navy Department in Washington, D.C. The date was March 13, 1944. It was her 21st birthday. Because she could type, she was put to work in the code room, not far from the White House. Very quickly, her security clearances became loftier and Miller was handling restricted, confidential, secret and top secret dispatches. Occasionally, she drove to the White House to deliver top secret communications that she had decoded. Twice she found herself in the awkward, not to mention painful, situation of handling confidential messages about men she knew who had been reported wounded. One was her mother’s cousin; the other was the younger brother of a boy she had dated. She could not pass word on to her mother or the boy’s family: they had to be notified through conventional channels and Miller could say nothing. Miller stayed with the WAVES for a while after war’s end, leaving the service in 1946 as a lieutenant JG (junior grade). She had earned her degree in sociology from the University of Maryland in 1944. A civilian again, she married a fine young man she had met at the university, Edward A. Miller Sr. She settled in to the life of a housewife. He had served in the Army during World War II and was called up to serve during the Korean Conflict. He went on to have a long and distinguished career as an engineer. The Millers, who currently reside in Castine, have five grown children and four grandchildren. In her spare time, Mary Jane serves as head of the Penobscot Council of the Navy League. — Stephen Fay