Herbert Gilbert
U.S. Navy – World War II Veteran – Valencia Resident
Apparently, it does not matter how old you are: “littlest brother syndrome” is a life sentence. Being the youngest of three boys means hand-me-downs, a constant compare-and-contrast and an ever-apparent feeling of needing to do more.
The upside, however, is being your mom’s favorite and never having to feel the maximum pressure to be responsible, be the first to get married or give your parents grandchildren.
For 99-year-old Herbert Gilbert, it would seem, these aspects of being the youngest are relatable to him and his life.
Despite being the only son in his family to serve in World War II — who then went on to graduate from college and help the city of Los Angeles develop and lay out its expansive, modern electrical system — Gilbert will say his life “was not all that exciting.”
His oldest brother was a member of the Los Angeles Police Department, while Herbert served on the six-battle-star-awarded USS Ludlow in the Pacific theater. Still, though, he says his brother did “a lot more than (him).”
His middle brother worked as an entertainer in Los Angeles nightclubs and theaters, while the youngest Gilbert worked as an engineer by day and volunteered as community theater performer at night.
And yet, his middle brother was more adventurous than him, he said.
It’s a textbook case of “littlest brother syndrome.”
Early Life
Hebert Gilbert was born April 16, 1919, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Molly and Michael Gilbert, the owners of a tire and car part shop in the city.
His oldest brother was nine years older and, when he moved to California to pursue a career in the LAPD, the youngest Gilbert, from the moment he was old enough, was working in the tire shop assisting his father.
“While other boys, like my middle brother, were swinging baseball bats and throwing around a football, I was working on tires,” Gilbert said. “I’ve always known how to use my head and my hands.”
He graduated from Glenville High School in Ohio in 1937, and after he was done with school, he continued to work in his father’s tire shop.
Eventually, however, his middle brother decided to follow his oldest brother to Los Angeles, not to pursue a career in law enforcement, but to see about making his way in the entertainment industry as a tap dancer.
Michael Gilbert, realizing the work would be too much for only him and Herbert to complete on their own, decided to also follow his sons’ example, and moved the whole family to the West Coast.
“He missed my older brothers,” Gilbert said. “He wanted to be with them.”
Before long, though, the youngest Gilbert would ignore his family’s habit of following in the paths of one another. He would forge his own path, and decide to join the U.S. Navy.
Time in the service, Part 1
Recognizing his potential as someone who has always been good with his “head and hands,” as Gilbert would put it, Naval officers decided the young recruit would be a suitable choice to learn the then-revolutionary, cutting-edge technology that had never been used before in a war: radar.
The field of Radio Detection and Ranging, or “RADAR” as it would come to be known, was a technology still in its infancy during the 1930s. Not until the early 1940s did the Allied and Axis countries realize its importance as an instrument of war, according to the Office of Scientific Research and Development. By the time World War II was underway, cooperating American and British scientists had created a form of radar that was “100 times more powerful” than its predecessors from a decade earlier, and their new tech would be considered by the U.S. military as “the most important technology ever brought to our shores,” the OSRD reports.
Operate and repair
Gilbert said he spent a year learning everything he could about the radar technology, being taught not only how to read the machines, but also how to be among a handful of people in the world who knew how to fix them, as well.
“We needed to know what was wrong with them and be able to fix them real quick,” Gilbert said.
After completing his training, Gilbert returned to Los Angeles to visit his family before heading out on assignment. From his parents’ Southern California home, he listened as radio broadcasts announced the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
“I remember being so mad,” Gilbert said, recalling his anger with a tone of voice that seemed to indicate the emotions he felt that day had not softened over 70 years later. “I was so angry.”
At the time, Gilbert was assigned to serve aboard a Naval transport ship and kept that detail for some time. But the need to “do something” more than transport supplies and troops was brewing inside of Gilbert since he heard President Franklin Delano Roosevelt call Pearl Harbor a “day that will live in infamy.”
“On the transport ship, I felt I wasn’t doing anything,” Gilbert said.
That is when he decided to make a change, and requested a transfer. His request would be granted, and before he knew it, he found himself in the radio room of the USS Ludlow.
Time in the Service, Part 2
For his time on the Ludlow, Gilbert continued to do what he was trained to do: radar technician work.
“I had to figure out fast what was wrong with the machines, know how to read them ... make sure that we knew where everything was out there, and then put it in the log.”
Gilbert said that, in the hours he was not in a dark radar room or quickly working to repair electrical hardware, he and his fellow crew members would play cards or sleep.
“I was pretty good at the game Bridge,” Gilbert said. “And if we weren’t doing that, or eating, we were sleeping in our bunks. And those bunks … well I only had 18 inches between the guy below me or the guy above me.”
The radar technician said something that always impressed him was how fast the USS Ludlow could go.
“I would stand at (the back part) of the ship, and watch from inside as our speed would increase to the point where the front end was up in the air, and the back end was underwater,” he said.
Afterward
After completing his time in the service, following Japan’s surrender, Gilbert and his wife, Rose, bought a home together. They had gotten married in 1942, and he had written to her every day of his deployment, he said. In those letters, he and Rose had planned out their future lives together, including buying the house and what he would do professionally once he was back on land.
They decided that, while she stayed at home with their three children, the former Navy radio technician would use his talents in civilian life and take up a job as an electrician for Los Angeles City Water and Power.
While working at the city, assisting them in repairing complex electronic equipment, he used his G.I. Bill to attend USC school of engineering. After graduating, Gilbert quickly became a reliable source for the city in terms of managing its growing electrical system.
At night, when he wasn’t at work or at home with his family, Gilbert was participating in community theater, playing dramatic and comedic roles. He was also a regular choice for directors seeking their lead man.
So, for 31 years, Gilbert worked for the city, participated in community theater, and helped Rose in raising their three children.
After he retired and their children had left home, the two continued to live in their home, occasionally traveling or visiting their grandchildren.
When Rose died, Gilbert said — he couldn’t go into too much detail — but said he “sat by her side and held her hand” through the end.
“Every life is amazing,” Gilbert said, his voice trailing off into silence.
After recounting a life filled with adventure, romance, sacrifice and heartache; a lifetime of doing what his brothers had done and more — whether it was working as a public servant, entertaining audiences during his time on stage or serving during World War II — Gilbert continues to humbly fill the role of the “littlest brother,” saying, “My life wasn’t all too interesting.”
There are, surely, those who would beg to differ.
“I’ve always known how to use my head and my hands . ... (As a radio operator in the Navy), I had to figure out fast what was wrong with the machines, know how to read them ...make sure that we knew where everything was out there, and then put it in the log ”
Herbert Gilbert,
U.S. Navy veteran