Gladys Ruth Gallivan, who goes by ‘Ruth’ celebrated her 100th birthday Saturday with family, friends and fellow Marine veterans.
"I cannot believe it," she told NBC 7 Saturday. "It's amazing to think someone would do this just for me."
In her century on earth one of Ruth's most unforgettable memories was serving her country during World War II.
“At that time they were advertising for women to join the Marine Corps, so I didn’t see why I couldn’t,” Ruth said. “Why I did it was to get away. Something different. I was just tired of my job.”
Ruth worked at Nordberg Manufacturing and said there was little hope for advancement at her job so she enlisted. Laughing, she said she has no fond memories of boot camp.
“Every place you went they were advertising women to volunteer to ‘free a man to go fight,’” she said. “Other than that it was just my idea.”
When the ‘Free a Man to Fight’ campaign started Ruth was one of the first women to sign up in 1943.
Ruth joined when she was just 26. She served at Cherry Point in North Carolina before being transferred to Miramar.
“We used to hitchhike up to LA on the weekends,” she said. “And today you couldn’t do it, but then you could get out on the road and hitchhike up to LA and spend the weekend in LA.”
She was honorably discharged in 1946 along with the rest of the women who had enlisted. Starting as a private, by the time she was discharged she was a technical sergeant.
After the war her position was converted to civil service. She got married and had two boys but eventually returned to her job after her children had grown.
Female Marines during the war served in motor transport, repair and telephone operators among other jobs. “We couldn’t go overseas,” Ruth explained. “Wherever they could put us they put us. Going into the Marine Corps today is entirely different.”
Ruth retired in 1985 after a lifetime in government service.
The Women Marines Association created a Facebook event asking people to send her birthday cards recently, and she got some from as far away as Japan.
Ruth said her secret to a long life is to “forget about getting older.”
She now lives in Mission Village where she helps the community paper and appears at local schools on Veteran's Day.
Photo Credit: NBC 7