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LAST FEMALE WORLD WAR I VETERAN DIES --
Charlotte L. Winters joined the Navy in 1916.
Charlotte L. Winters served at the
Washington Navy Yard during World War I, joined the American
Legion in 1919 and was a member for the next 88 years. (Photo by
David J. DeJonge / Special to The Sun) |
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Last female WWI veteran dies
Longtime Md. resident, 109, fought for women's
right to enlist in Navy
In 1916, Charlotte L. Winters called on the secretary of the Navy and
asked why women weren't allowed to enlist.
A year later, she had begun her military career.
This week, Mrs. Winters - the nation's oldest female military veteran -
died in her sleep at the Fahrney-Keedy life care community in Boonsboro.
She was 109.
"She is the last female World War I veteran," American Legion
spokeswoman Ramona E. Joyce said yesterday.
With Mrs. Winters' death, there are only four surviving U.S. veterans
from the "war to end all wars," according to the Scripps Howard News
Service, which tracks living veterans of that war. Since the beginning
of the year, six - including Mrs. Winters on Tuesday - have died.
The former Charlotte L. Barry was born Nov. 10, 1897, in Washington, the
daughter of a haberdasher. Raised in Washington, she was a 1915 graduate
of the Washington Business High School.
In 1916, in the midst of the war, she paid her historic visit to Navy
Secretary Josephus Daniels.
"She convinced him that women could be in the Navy, and her visit is
corroborated in his journals. While he did not admit that she directly
influenced him, he did acknowledge that they had met," said a niece,
Kelly N. Auber of Middle River.
After meeting with top Navy brass, Daniels discovered there were no
existing regulations prohibiting women from serving.
"A year went by before she and her sister, Sophie Bean, joined the
Navy," Mrs. Auber said. They were designated yeoman 3rd class (F), the
(F) being for female.
"The only restrictions were they couldn't be sent overseas or into
battle," Mrs. Auber said. "Over 10,000 women joined [the Navy] by 1918."
Mrs. Winters was assigned to the Washington Navy Gun Factory, also known
as the Washington Navy Yard, where she worked as a typist during the
duration of the war.
"She worked in supplies and said they were so busy during the war trying
to supply existing bases and the new bases that were being built," Mrs.
Auber said.
Within months after the end of the war, all of the enlisted women had
been released from active duty. Mrs. Winters, discharged in 1919 with
the rank of yeoman 2nd class (F), returned to her old job as a civilian
employee at the Washington Navy Yard, where she continued working as a
typist through World War II and the Korean War. She retired in 1953.
Mrs. Winters joined the American Legion in 1919 - the year it was
founded - and was a member for the next 88 years.
She was among 20 enlisted Naval Reserve women, all former yeoman (F),
who established American Legion Betsy Ross Post No. 1 in Washington in
1919, which was one of the first American Legion posts in the country.
It was later renamed the USS Jacob Jones Post No. 2.
"Women could join the American Legion and vote for their post officers
before women were given the right to vote nationally in 1920," Ms. Joyce
said.
Mrs. Winters, who held numerous offices in the post, was chairwoman of
the sesquicentennial anniversary of the U.S. Constitution celebration.
She coordinated the activities of all American Legion chapters for the
event that was held in Washington.
She also was a founder in 1926 of the National Yeoman (F) Association
and served as its commander from 1940 to 1941. She was a frequent
contributor to The Notebook, the organization's publication.
She was married in 1949 to John Russell Winters, who was a Navy Yard
machinist. The couple moved from their Washington home to South Mountain
in western Frederick County in 1956.
They shared an interest in Revolutionary War and Civil War history and
frequently visited battlefields, where they documented campaign strategy
and the lives of the soldiers who had fought there.
"They liked traveling all over the U.S. and documenting Civil War
graves. When they found a grave, they'd record the information, touch
the stone, take a picture and then give a salute," said Douglas G. Bast,
founder of the Boonsboro Museum of History and the executor of Mrs.
Winters' estate.
"They recorded the information on cards - they must have had three or
four thousand of them - which they donated to the Hagerstown Library,"
Mr. Bast said.
Mr. Winters died in 1984.
Mrs. Winters, who drove until she was 95, gave up her home in 1990 to
move to the assisted living community because "she didn't want to cook
anymore," Mrs. Auber said.
Mrs. Auber ascribed her aunt's longevity to "good genes" and the fact
that she didn't smoke and liked to walk and garden.
"She also enjoyed one martini, and only one, every afternoon," Mrs.
Auber said.
Mrs. Winters maintained a vigorous correspondence with friends and
family, and was an avid reader.
"She was a feminist and an early one but always had a sense of humor.
She also had an uncanny ability at charming people and drawing them in,"
her niece said.
Mrs. Winters donated her World War I uniform and other Navy memorabilia
to the Navy Museum in Washington. She was a member of the Boonsboro
Historical Society and the Boonsboro Homemakers.
She was a member of All Saints Episcopal Church in Frederick, where
services with full military honors, including Navy pallbearers, will be
held at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
She will receive a three-volley salute at her interment in Mount Olivet
Cemetery.
In addition to Mrs. Auber, survivors include two nephews, Dudley Winters
of Canton and Dennis Lynch of Hampden; and two other nieces, Sonya
Taylor of Baltimore and Joyce Lynch of Stockton, Calif.
fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com
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Larry Scott --
