TRAILBLAZING US NAVY WAVES VETERAN DIES AT 101

Please join us in remembering Priscilla Getchell, a WWII veteran of the US Navy WAVES who passed away this week at the age of 101.

Priscilla was born in Massachusetts in 1921 and attended Boston University before she answered the nation's call to serve in the US Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) one year after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

As a Link Trainer operator, she trained pilots and prepared them for missions against the enemy. After serving in Atlanta and other stateside naval bases, she transferred to Hawaii and was promoted to Chief Petty Officer (CPO), leading the Link Trainer Department and supervising 98 other women at Honolulu Naval Air Station. Getchell was the first WAVE CPO on the base, having made that rank after only two and a half years of service.

Priscilla left the Navy in 1946 after four years of honorable service. With her late Army officer veteran husband, Ralph, she raised nine children – all sons. Five would serve their nation in the Armed Forces.

We had the privilege to meet and interview Priscilla in 2017, preserving her fascinating wartime memories for generations to come.