1. Silver balloons hang in the corner of Lavalla Blum’s quiet living room. She
may have celebrated her 94th birthday on Monday, but Blum is still a strong voice for
women in the military and female veterans. Tired of the alphabetical order that kept
the Women’s Army Corps Veterans Association at the end of the Veterans Day
parade, Blum expressed her concern that women veterans were not getting the
same recognition as the men. Her voice was heard, and this year, the Veterans Day
parades in both Copperas Cove (Nov. 8) and Killeen (Nov. 11) are celebrating
women’s contributions to the military. Blum will serve as parade marshal in both
cities, alongside the ranking CW5 female, Jeanne Pace.
Lavalla Blum was raised in El Campo, Texas. She met her husband, Harvey, at
a Christmas party when she was 16. Harvey was in the Army, and stationed in
Hawaii. The two kept in touch through letters over the years, and were married on
Labor Day in 1940. When Harvey was preparing to go overseas in 1942, the military
announced the creation of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. After her husband
deployed on secret orders, Lavalla first kept busy working at Lichtenstein’s
department store on the Navy base in Corpus Christi during the Christmas rush. But
after listening to news about the war on the radio, she decided to make a trip to Fort
Sam in San Antonio to find out more about the WAAC.
“So I went to San Antonio, and when I came out of San Antonio, I was in the
Army,” Blum laughed.
Blum joined the WAC Auxiliary and was sent to basic training in Daytona
Beach on Feb. 8, 1943. After finishing her training, Blum and 64 other women
received orders to report to Las Vegas, Nevada. On the train ride to her first duty
station, there was a layover in Los Angeles.
“All at once we heard a man saying, ‘Now fall in line’. We all turned around,
and it was Clark Gable,” Blum said. “And he said, ‘I’m gonna put you through your
paces!’ So everybody jumped into line, and we marched up and down, did the
calisthenics and everything.”
Blum has many great stories and memories of her time in the WAAC,
although it wasn’t always easy being a woman in uniform.
“They really didn’t know what to do with the women,” Blum said. “They said,
‘What can you do?’”
Women who had been secretaries or nurses before they joined the WAAC
were assigned to office jobs and hospital positions. A small number of women were
sent to the motor pool. Blum’s first assignment was working in the PX, making
milkshakes and serving cold drinks.
Blum enjoyed her job and the military way of life, but six short months into
her service, she was informed that the Pentagon had decided to drop the auxiliary.
The women of the WAAC could choose honorable discharge or convert to full status.
Blum had gotten word that her husband was returning to the states as a hospital
patient, so she chose honorable discharge.
“We often talked later about how maybe I should’ve stayed in, but I didn’t
want to be somewhere in the South Pacific while he was back in Germany or
England. We wanted to be together.”
After two tours in Germany, the couple made their home in Texas, and
Harvey retired after 23 years of service. They had two sons, built a house in Killeen

2. and later purchased 75 acres of ranch land where they raised Black Angus cattle.
Lavalla stayed connected to the military by joining the local Women’s Army Corps
Veterans Association, Genevieve Chapter No. 94, and she has served in nearly every
position on the board. After her husband passed away, Blum also volunteered at the
Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center on Fort Hood for 13 years.
Blum is proud of her service and admires all women in uniform. Although she
recognizes that women still have to fight to be viewed as equals in the military,
Blum believes that women who give it their all can succeed.
“I really appreciate these girls coming in. And I’m still proud of saying that I
was in World War II, because everybody was doing something during the war, and
we helped,” Blum said.
Whether it was collecting tin cans during the war, serving the troops at the
local exchange during her time in the WAAC, volunteering at the hospital, or
supporting her husband, Lavalla Blum definitely helped pave the way for
generations of female veterans.
The Army made Blum return her skirt and jacket when she was honorably
discharged, but she will be wearing a military class A uniform just like the one she
donned in 1943 for the parades this weekend.