Columnist Susan Snyder: A day to remember vets and moms

Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 4:41 a.m.

She might be somebody's mom.

And even though she may never have laid hands on a weapon, she served her country just the same.

"It's a strange thing. A lot of the women after World War II, well, we never felt like we were veterans," said Las Vegas resident Billie D'Entremont, 82. "We never felt we did anything very 'military.' We were just doing service."

They went to boot camp, wore uniforms and ate in mess halls and slept in barracks that had no heat. They worked as aircraft mechanics, nurses, office assistants, cooks, radio operators and even pilots.

They were Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service -- WAVES -- who stepped up to serve their country after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Navy Women's Reserve Act in July 1942.

"During World War II, everyone felt they should do something," said D'Entremont, who served as a U.S Coast Guard stenographer for almost two years. "You felt it every day."

D'Entremont is president of the Nevada Gems Unit 146, a local chapter of WAVES National, which represents all women who have served or currently serve in the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard or Marines. The national group was created in 1979 by a group of retired WAVES.

Members provide a presence at memorial services and do community service projects. But they also help us remember those women who served in WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm.

Nevada Gems will attend Veterans Day ceremonies in Boulder City and Las Vegas today, D'Entremont said. The 2-year-old chapter has 36 members statewide, 27 of whom live in the Las Vegas Valley, but they want more.

"We want to perpetuate this group that helps all women veterans," she said. "But we're a dying breed. And if we don't get some of the younger women involved, it's going to die."

D'Entremont is also a member of the Women Veterans of Nevada, another women's group that meets the third Saturday every two months. Its next meeting is Dec. 15. Call 898-4864 for information.

Although military women now have the option of pursuing just about any position they want, women like the Nevada Gems led the way.

D'Entremont said she never thought of it that way until she attended a 1997 WAVES installation of officers ceremony in Hawaii, where she lived at the time.

Navy Cmdr. Nori Ann Reed, of the USS Willamette, did the honors, D'Entremont recalled.

"She said, 'If you hadn't paved the way, I wouldn't be here.' And here she had command of a ship."

D'Entremont has started assembling a scrapbook about her Coast Guard tenure. The first page shows a portrait of her in uniform. The caption below the picture shows some of what she learned in boot camp:

"Walls are 'bulkheads.' Floors are 'decks.' Stairs are 'ladders.' And I am now 4001-206."

Her children asked her to make the book. She says she now understands younger people want to remember all those who served their country.

The Nevada Gems' next meeting is Nov. 21. For more WAVES information, contact D'Entremont at 889-2959, or e-mail billiedentromont@aol.com.

And hug a veteran today -- especially if she's somebody's mom.