National Treasure
Served with WAVES in World War II
At age 94, Helen Gilbert is one of a dwindling number of Americans who experienced firsthand the events of the first half of the twentieth century. She was part of the generation that lived through the Great Depression, fought in World War II, and laid the foundation for post-war America with ingenuity, determination, and a conviction to do what is right for their country. They have come to be known as “The Greatest Generation,” and their stories are about common people driven by uncommon character.
Born Blanche Helen Blackburn in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba on July 3, 1923, her parents moved to Porterville in 1926 to be closer to family. She and her siblings attended Porterville elementary schools and later Porterville High School, and after graduation she worked at a dress shop while she attended Porterville Junior College.
When World War II began, her two brothers, Bill and Ellis Blackburn, were drafted into military service, but she still felt compelled to volunteer her services for the Navy to help in the war effort.
“I felt that I was trying to contribute. I didn’t want to be in the Army or go overseas, but the Navy wasn’t equipped to send us anyway because we were among the first women,” said Gilbert.
She eventually became part of the third regiment of the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service), the women’s branch of the United States Naval Reserve. The WAVES program was established in 1942 by Congress, and authorized the Navy to accept women into the Naval Reserve as commissioned officers and at the enlisted level for the purpose of releasing officers and men for sea duty.
The notion of women serving in the Navy was not widely supported in Congress or by the Navy at the time. Nonetheless, the persistence of several women laid the groundwork for Public Law 689, allowing women to serve in the Navy, due in large measure, through the efforts of the Navy’s Women’s Advisory Council, Margaret Chung, and Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States.
So in 1944, Gilbert got her chance to serve, and she embarked on a cross-country train ride to report for basic training in New York City.
The Navy took over Hunter College and used it as a barracks for basic training for WAVE recruits. Although the conditions were quite different from Central California (she vividly remembers marching in the snow), Gilbert recalls being well cared for during training, and says it was a “thrill” to be among a group of women who were receiving training to help their country.
Upon graduation, she was assigned to a naval office in Washington D.C., where she performed administrative clerical work and did her part to “release a man to fight at sea,” as the Navy recruitment slogan suggested.
“I worked in an office before there were computers, just the old typewriters,” she said.
Although her military duties were not as rigorous or as dangerous as what enlisted men experienced during the war, her time as a Navy WAVE was not without its own challenges.
“You have to learn to work with other people, which is a challenge because there were many different personalities,” she said.
During her time in the Navy, Gilbert traveled extensively throughout the eastern United States, visiting almost every state on the East Coast. When she wasn’t doing office work, she visited soldiers who had returned from combat and were recuperating in local hospitals.
In her free time, she explored Washington D.C., visited the United States Capitol building and other national landmarks, and attended theater performances on the banks of the Potomac River.
When the time came for Gilbert to be discharged, she was one of a group of women who was approached by the Navy to re-enlist and begin officer training to serve in Hawaii, but Gilbert had a life to get back to in California. She was honorably discharged in 1946 as a Yeoman First Class, and returned to Porterville.
When she reflects on her time in the Navy, Gilbert expresses the same selflessness and dedication to her country that has become the hallmark of her generation.
“When I left the service, I didn’t feel that the country owed me anything, because what I gave was minor compared to what the fellas had given.”
Gilbert used the skills and abilities she learned in the Navy to become a driven and resourceful member of the community. Upon returning home, she went to work for Finance and Thrift Loan Company in Porterville, and later married Chet Gilbert, a local dairyman, in 1947.
When their two daughters were born, Gilbert became a full-time homemaker, but remained active in the community. She was very involved with Grand Avenue United Methodist Church as a Sunday School teacher, and partnered with husband Chet to become community leaders of a 4-H club. Her husband was one of four men that helped establish the Porterville Fair through the Porterville High School ag department.
While Gilbert maintains that she doesn’t “have much of a history,” it only takes a few minutes in conversation with her to realize that she has lived a life full of purpose and principle, and has bore witness to some of the most significant events in modern history. She is among the last vestiges of a truly great generation of Americans, and should be cherished as such.