A WAC Bride and a Coastie Groom in the Family Tree

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California

During the recent WikiTree Connect-A-Thon, I became acquainted with Walter "Jack" Cromwell Wood (1894-1982) and his wife, Helen Gertrude Westerlake (1908-1995). Jack was my husband's 3d cousin and Helen was his bride.

I was really interested to discover that Jack served in both World War I and World War II--in two different branches of the military. Then I learned about Helen being a WAC officer during World War II. Here are their stories!

Jack: Sailing, College, Military

Jack was a son of Walter Dean Wood and Elizabeth Sawyer Pierce Wood, born in New Bedford, Massachusetts where he early on learned to sail. In 1917, he was attending MIT when he interrupted his college career to enlist in the US Army Air Corps for World War I. He was sent to train as a pilot with other Americans at the University of Toronto, taught by Royal Canadian Air Force pilots. 

After the war, Jack returned to sailing and racing. During the 1930s, he became the first “Sailing Master” of MIT, a post he held through the late 1940s. During World War II, he joined the US Coast Guard to teach navigation in New London, Connecticut at the Coast Guard Academy, with the rank of Lt. Commander.

Helen: Cars, College, Military

Helen was a daughter of Mary Marsh Cleverdon Westerdale and Harry Eastman Westerdale, born in Chicago where a few years later her father became a rising star in the budding automotive industry. Within a few years, he had his own auto distribution firm and later was an executive with Chrysler in Detroit. 

Helen went to a special high school in Memphis known for college prep, then went to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree. She later worked as a secretary, and when she saw the call for women to join the military, she applied and was accepted into the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in July, 1942. After training, she was awarded the rank of Captain.

Captain and Lt. Commander, Bride and Groom

I don't know how Jack and Helen met, but they became engaged in August of 1944 and married that October. It seems to have been a long-distance marriage at first: Jack continued to teach at the Coast Guard Academy and Helen remained in the WACs, achieving the rank of Major before becoming a civilian again in the fall of 1945. Jack left the Coast Guard in the fall of 1946. 

Helen and Jack then settled in the greater Boston area, where he taught navigation and they raised two children. They retired to San Diego, California, where he died in 1982 just one day after his 88th birthday. She died in 1995 at the age of 86. Both are buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego (image at top from VA National Cemetery here).