JOSEPH, Ore. — Veterans Day brought a special honor to a 99-year-old World War II veteran in Joseph, Oregon this year. Gladys Huffman was given a flag from the local VFW to recognize her service.
Huffman joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) when she was just 19 years old. She started her military service as a volunteer air raid warden and spotter in her hometown of Birkenhead, England.
That meant she had to enforce blackouts during the Blitz.
“We were responsible, at that time, for seeing that everyone was blacked out,” she said. “And when the bombs did fall, I was out in the raids ordering the kind of equipment that was needed wherever the bombs fell and even rescuing people that had their houses bombed as well.”
It was not easy for women to get into the RAF. That is until the war efforts deemed them necessary. She became an accountant for the RAF, but only after a man was sent to the front lines.
She tells KGW she is delighted to see the role of women in the military evolve since her time in the service.
“I noticed the women were getting a bigger part in everything. And I was very pleased when they did let the women go to the front in the later wars,” she said. “I’m very proud of being a veteran.”
Huffman met her first husband, and American, during the war. He too was a military member and first served for the Polish government until the U.S. joined the war. Then he transferred to the U.S. Air Force.
She moved to the U.S. with her husband and became a citizen in 1945.
Since then, Huffman has become a member of her local American Legion Post 246 in her own right. They invited her to join after learning about her background.
Huffman celebrated Veterans Day at her assisted living home in on Monday.
“I listened to the president this morning, followed all the services, wept and cried with everybody, saluted the flag and all that. That's how it felt to me, brought everything back,” Huffman said.
The nearly 100-year-old veteran is proud of her military background and her family members who have followed in her footsteps. That includes a great-grandson who will join the Marines next year.
Huffman will turn 100 in January.