From Navy WAVES to community pillar
by Trinity Gruenberg
Not all Vietnam-era veterans were allowed to deploy overseas—we’re talking about women—yet, they still played an essential role during the war.
Lois (Kopponen) Hallermann of Wadena was 18 when she enlisted in the Navy for a three-year term in 1965 as a medical corpsman in the hospital corps.
At that time, Hallermann lived in Menahga with her family and was unsure what she wanted to do with her life.
“At that point, I didn’t have money to go to college, no vehicle, and didn’t know what I wanted to do. They were looking for a lot of people to enlist. I thought about it a long time before that,” said Hallermann.
Her father, Matt Kopponen, was a WWII veteran, and her brother, Jim, deployed to Germany in the Army. Her mother, Clara, was the only one in the family who didn’t serve. She decided to give the military a shot.
“I didn’t know what to expect.”
Hallermann left Minnesota with five other women from Frazee, Detroit Lakes, Rochester, and Minneapolis. This was her first time leaving the state, and she was sent to Bainbridge, Maryland, for boot camp, where she learned military doctrine, Navy customs, new terminology, and physical education.
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) was the U.S. Naval Reserve Women’s Branch established on July 21, 1942....
Comentarios