Bernice Smith

Bernice Tongate was an American yeomanette who served in the United States Navy during World War I. The first time Tongate tried to enlist, she was rejected, prompting her to say that she wished she was a man. Howard Chandler Christy, a portrait painter, overheard this interaction and asked her to pose for a poster in a sailor's uniform. She was then allowed to enlist as a yeoman ten days later, becoming the first Californian woman to do so.