WWII US NAVY WAVES VETERAN TURNS 101

101-year-old Priscilla Getchell 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. Priscilla served as a Link Trainer operator, training pilots and preparing them for missions against the enemy. After serving in Atlanta and at 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 years of service.

She vividly remembers the day victory was declared over Japan when she and the other WAVES in Hawaii watched as streams of ships blasted their whistles and horns in a victory parade out of Pearl Harbor. They wept and cheered to see the boys headed home and were relieved that the war had finally ended. 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. Please join us in recognizing her service on the occasion of her 101st birthday.

"Giving the Past a Future, One Story at a Time."

WWII Veterans History Project