DERVARTANIAN-ANNA

FIRST  WOMAN  PROMOTED  TO  MASTER  CHIEF  E-9

Anna DerVartanian was born December 6, 1920, and raised in Detroit, Michigan.  Following graduation from Detroit Business University she joined the Army Women’s Auxiliary Air Corps on December 18, 1942.  She elected to leave the WAAC on August 31, 1943, joining the WAVES.  Her initial Navy duty station was Great Lakes, following which she was assigned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C.  Her next assignment was Naval Station, Treasure Island, California (8/1946-6/1947) where she was promoted to Chief Yeoman.  By 1951 she was a writer for Deputy Chief of Naval Operations.  Between March 1952 and December 1953, she was assigned to the Public Information Office, Pearl Harbor.  While here President Truman passed through Pearl Harbor and autographed a picture of himself for her with the inscription:
“Glad to sign it. HST.”

DerVartanian’s next assignment was the Parachute Rigger and Aerograph Schools at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey.  Here she was promoted to Senior Chief Yeoman in 1957 and then transferred to the Public Information Office, Boston, Massachusetts.  In July 1959 she was reassigned to the Global Strategy Office of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.  While serving here she was promoted to Yeoman Master Chief, the first woman to reach E-9 in the history of the U.S. Armed Forces.  Following that promotion, she was transferred as the first female Chief Clerk to the Office of United States National Military Representative, SHAPE, in Paris, France.  Her duties included coordination of administrative procedures for military personnel from the United States and the fourteen NATO nations within that command.  She served in Paris until 1962, meeting President John F. Kennedy.  She received a strong endorsement for the Navy's Limited Duty Officer Program and upon her departure from the command, a letter of commendation for her superior performance as the Chief Clerk.  Her final assignment was at the Legal Office, Naval Station, Washington D.C.   YNCM DerVartanian retired on July 16, 1963.

In 1964 DerVartanian joined the Central Intelligence Agency as a junior analyst, later becoming a counterintelligence specialist and receiving assignments in Paris, France; Bonn, Germany; and Madrid Spain.  Upon her retirement from CIA in 1991 she remained a contractor there until May 2007.  She gave speeches and attended numerous military events, was a member of the WAVES National, Women of the Sea Service, and registered at the Women in Military Service for America (WIMSA) as charter member 23774.  She died in McLean, Virginia, on August 4, 2011, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The Master Chief Anna DerVartanian Leadership Award was established in 1987 to be presented annually to an enlisted personnel in the Navy whose ideal and dedication foster an inclusive culture and has shown exceptional leadership both on and off-duty.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)