As part of National Volunteer Month in April, the Paramount Veterans Network honored the late Betty White who impacted the military and veteran community by volunteering for the American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS) during WWII.
Betty White Bio:
Betty White began her television career in 1939, three months after her high school graduation, when she and a classmate sang songs from The Merry Widow on an experimental television show. White found work modeling, and her first professional acting job was at the Bliss Hayden Little Theatre. When World War II broke out, she put her career on hold and volunteered for the American Women's Voluntary Services. Her assignment included the transportation of military supplies through California. She also participated in events for troops before they were deployed overseas.
American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS) was the largest American women's service organization in the United States during World War II (WWII). AWVS provided women volunteers who provided support services to help the nation during the war such as message delivery, ambulance driving, selling war bonds, emergency kitchens, cycle corps drivers, dog-sled teamsters, aircraft spotters, navigation, aerial photography, fighting fires, truck driving, and canteen workers. Some of its work overlapped with the Office of Civilian Defense and the American Red Cross.
It was here Betty met her first husband, a United States Army Air Forces aircraft pilot. They divorced eventually, and she remarried to the love of her life, TV host Allen Ludden.
Military-adjacent roles help our troops and country thrive, and Betty was a part of that. Thank you, Betty, for your selfless service.
Rest In Peace Betty White (1922-2021)
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