By Luke Lorenz
Manager of Government Affairs
Navy League of the United States
This is part of an ongoing series, where we look at the lives and legacies of U.S. sea service men and women.
As we embark on a new year, a new Congress and a new administration, we felt it was appropriate to highlight a woman who brought the Navy into a new era of diversity and opportunity. Susan Ahn Cuddy was the daughter of Ahn Chang Ho and Helen Ahn, a married Korean couple that emigrated to the United States in 1902. When their homeland was annexed by imperial Japan only a few years later, the family became a close knit resistance movement, organizing and supporting Korean refugees as they fled Japanese occupation.
Susan’s father made multiple trips to Korea and China working to support the independence movements that were battling the Japanese. In 1938 he was arrested by the Japanese, imprisoned, tortured and died. Only three years later, the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor. As America hurtled into a global war, young Susan had no interest in standing on the sidelines.
In 1942, Susan joined the Navy through the newly implemented Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) program. Her brothers Phil and Ralph had also joined the military, eager to fight the Japanese. Susan quickly distinguished herself, becoming the first female gunnery officer in the Navy. She encountered resistance both as a woman and an Asian-American at a time when anti-Asian prejudice was commonplace. But she was a fighter, and her career would only become more impressive in the following years.
Susan married Chief Petty Officer Francis Cuddy in April of 1947, but because of laws against interracial marriage in Virginia (where they lived at the time) they were married in a church in Washington, D.C. Susan became a lieutenant and went on to work for U.S. Navy Intelligence and later the National Security Agency. Susan Ahn Cuddy passed away in 2015, leaving behind an inspiring legacy of service, sacrifice and courage.