SSG Gail P. Belmont Oral History

title:

SSG Gail P. Belmont Oral History

creator:

Belmont, Gail Patrice (1951 September 28 -

subject:

Women's Army Corps (WAC) | Army Reserve

description:

Gail Belmont was born on September 28, 1951 in Dos Palos, California where her dad was the chief of police. She and her dad then moved to Gustine, California, and she graduated from the city's high school in 1969. She joined the Women's Army Corps six days after she turned 18, and she had already been accepted in the WAC band. After going through basic training, she was assigned to Fort McClellan, Alabama with the WAC Army Band. Her dad was a Marine, and when she asked him about joining the service he tried to discourage her saying she'd get homesick. After she had been approved, Gail's dad said he wouldn't see her off, but she paid it no mind. That is, until the day she was meant to be sent off at Fresno, California, and he said he still wasn�t planning on sending her off and began to cry. She joined because there was an ad in the paper for female musicians, so she sent in a tape audition and was accepted before formally enlisting. Since her family couldn't afford college, she decided to go in to gain access to GI Bill benefits. While in the band, they toured around the states and were held to very high standards of dress and behavior. She did not realize until after joining that her job as a trumpeter was to play taps at military funerals for servicepeople who were killed in action Vietnam. Those funerals were incredibly challenging for her, especially early on. After getting out, she didn't play her trumpet for years, until her uncle who was also an Army veteran passed away. The band also started having a reunion every two years, which has also helped her return to playing. After leaving the Army in 1972, she joined the Army Reserves in 1973 and worked full time there for three more years. She then worked for the Army as a civilian, so in a way she never really left the service. It took Gail something like 40 years for her PTSD to kick off, before then she didn't realize how deeply she'd been impacted by her service attending funerals in the areas surrounding Fort McClellan. The places she played were often incredibly poor, with many men serving due to economic reasons rather than any real desire to go to Vietnam. There were also protestors when they were in town since they drove military vehicles. She figured out she had PTSD after playing at several funerals and being unable to breathe properly for hours after playing. One of her bandmates told her these episodes were from PTSD, as the same thing had happened to him. Gail now runs a nonprofit that gives quilts to people with PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, Purple Heart recipients, and people who have served for a minimum of three years to help people who have been traumatized in their service feel comforted and cared for. When she left the service in 1972, she had reached the rank of E6 SSG. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Gill, Dennis

date:

2021-08-28

type:

Moving Image

format:

Born Digital

identifier:

1337; 2021.002

source:

Voices of Freedom Project - SWTA

language:

English

relation:

621718

coverage:

Vietnam War (1964-1975)| 1970s | 1969-1972, 1973-1976

rights:

Unrestricted