CINCINNATI — Ripcord in hand, an old photo shows Roberta Bullough after her parachute jump from a plane as part of a new requirement for women in the parachute rigger role.
“I was the second girl to go to the school. Since World War II, there were parachute riggers back then, but they didn't have to jump their parachute,” she explained. “That was our final exam.”
She joked that you had to hold on to the rip cord or else you had to foot the bill for drinks for everyone in the unit.
Bullough spent time sewing and mending parachutes, but also worked on the life rafts, life jackets and oxygen systems.
“We fixed and repaired all survival material,” Bullough said.
Her desire to join the Navy was inspired by a teacher.
“I had a schoolteacher in junior high who enlisted in the Navy during World War II and I love that lady, so I wanted to be like her. So, when I had the opportunity, that's what I did. I joined the Navy,” she said.
Teacher Elvina Hobbs from Lockland was the inspiration behind Bullough serving her country.
It was 1949 and her graduation class says a lot. It shows Bullough as the lone woman in the class full of men.
“Never did it occur to me that I was doing something nobody else had done,” Bullough said. “You know, it's just something I wanted to do.”
She was the second woman to jump their parachute.
“I jumped, it’s my first time up in an airplane,” she said. “All the guys were looking at me wonderful jump and the instructor says Roberta if you don't jump, I'm going to give you a kick.”
Her jump was made into a Navy recruiting tool. Her face and images of her preparing for the jump were plastered across the country.
“They were wanting more women in the service and they had an enlistment going. And there were other people and other women and other jobs. But this one seemed more daring and more exciting, I guess. And they put it in the movies,” said Bullough.
She was featured in the newsreel in movie theaters before the movie ran. It was the way people across the United States would get their news and information as widespread television use was non-existent.
Her images were posted outside the theater in Oakland, California where she’d she herself firsthand during a visit to a girlfriend’s home.
She loved her time in the service but found love and got married. It’s the one thing looking back she would change if she could.
“Well, if I could change my life, I would not have gotten married,” she said. “I would have stayed in the service.”
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
