Memorial Day, observed this year on May 30, acknowledges and pays tribute to those who served our country.

Hilda Adams served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II and helped wounded soldiers recover from their injuries. (photo by Thomas Sanders)

The holiday is particularly poignant for retired veterans. At Belmont Village’s Hollywood community on Highland Avenue, two World War II veterans recently shared stories about their service.

Hilda Adams and Rick Ratcliffe served within the United States, and their stories illustrate the importance of the support given by tens of thousands servicemen and servicewomen from home. Behind-the-scenes personnel played crucial roles in enabling the U.S. and its allies to emerge victorious in World War II.

Adams served as medical technician in the Women’s Army Corps and helped countless soldiers heal from wounds suffered while fighting overseas. She grew up in Brooklyn and New Jersey and served in the military from 1944-1946. Medical care was a common profession in her family, as her grandmother was a midwife and other family members worked in hospitals and clinics. She enlisted at age 19.

“I always wanted to help, so I joined the Women’s Army Corps. The hospital I was assigned to was my medical training and my on-the-job training,” Adams said. “I did not get overseas, but overseas came to me. We had medical airplanes that went right to the battlefield and picked the guys up and brought them back. The G.I.s were coming back as quick as we could send them. You really saw the horror of war when you saw how badly injured these men were. It was not a pretty sight.”

Adams was first assigned to a hospital in Pennsylvania and was eventually transferred to Walter Reed General Hospital in Maryland – the Army’s premier medical facility in the United States. She said one of her most memorable patients was a man she only remembers as Lt. Burkett. The lieutenant suffered devastating injuries to his arms, and came close to having them amputated. Medics sewed his arms to the sides of his torso – a procedure used at the time that allowed limbs to heal, she said. Burkett recovered and regained the use of his arms. Later, Adams said she had a chance meeting with the man she helped nurse back to health.

“He laid there for over six months with a loin cloth, that’s it. I was his caretaker in every sense of the word. The man never left the bed,” Adams said. “One day, sometime after [the war] was over, I was able to get into town … to meet a friend and I had to go up in an elevator. It was really crowded. I got in the elevator and I looked up and there he was. The first words out of my mouth were, ‘Lt. Burkett, I’ve never seen you with your clothes on before.’ I turned red as a beet and he laughed his head off.”

Adams is quick to point out that she went through the same basic training as her male military counterparts and that it instilled toughness she has carried with her the rest of her life. Although her service was more than six-and-a-half decades ago, she remembers it with precise clarity.

She said one of her most memorable assignments was a program that helped soldiers heal with music. Few people know, she said, but the Army used music to help patients who suffered from the psychological effects of combat and sustained life-threatening injuries. Adams said she studied music as a young woman and was a singer and entertainer. She was proud to help wounded soldiers any way she could.

“I would sing to them or dance with them, or whatever they wanted, and I loved it,” she added. “They found that music was so beneficial in returning these men back to normalcy. Because I read music and wrote music and sang, I was an asset to these guys. It was kept very quiet. Can you believe this kid – me – could help these guys come back? It was very rewarding.”

After the war ended and Adams left the service, she pursued a career in entertainment. She was active with the American Theatre Wing, an organization supporting performing arts and theater, and was also a singer. She has lived at Belmont Village Hollywood for the past year and a half.

Rick Ratcliffe was a company clerk in the U.S. Army during World War II and said the experience helped him further his education. (photo by Thomas Sanders)

Ratcliffe, who was originally from St. Louis and moved to Los Angeles when he was 15, also vividly remembers his military service. He joined the Army at age 17 in 1946 because the G.I. Bill offered money for college. He served until 1948.

Ratcliffe was a company clerk in the U.S. Army’s Transportation Corps, and fulfilled multiple roles, including training soldiers with films and keeping supplies organized. Ratcliffe, who is African American, said his experiences in the Army were bittersweet. The Army was still segregated at the time, and he faced discrimination. Sometimes it even came from fellow African American soldiers. He was assigned to a company made up of people from all over the country, and he remembers being harassed by a group of African American soldiers from Chicago. While it was a tough period in his life, Ratcliffe said the service helped further his education, both during and after the war.

Ratcliffe was assigned to Fort Eustis in Virginia. His duties included working as an x-ray technician and a film projectionist, showing training films to other G.I.s. He also served as a company clerk in a transportation and trucking unit.

He said one of the most valuable things he learned was how to work with others, particularly during a time when discrimination was ever-present. Ratcliffe added that his Army experience helped shape his perspective and strengthened his resolve to better his life, no matter what hurdles he faced. It also taught him not to fear threatening people.

“The Army was still segregated. We were in different companies, and didn’t go to the same rec halls and didn’t transfer into white companies,” Ratcliffe said. “I learned how to get along with people who were very difficult to get along with. It stuck with me for the rest of my life.”

After leaving the Army, Ratcliffe studied at UCLA and graduated with a physics degree. He pursued a career in electrical engineering, and was a proud member of the United Electrical Workers Union, he said.

Ratcliffe and Adams are part of a special veterans project at Belmont Village with photographer Thomas Sanders, who began photographing and interviewing veterans living in the senior communities in 2008. The pictures and profiles were compiled in a book, “The Last Good War: The Faces and Voices of WWII,” published in 2010. Many of the photographs – including those of Ratcliffe and Adams – hang on the walls at Belmont Village Hollywood.

“The gallery of portraits is such a powerful and moving tribute to our residents and other vets who have served that we knew that we wanted to help Thomas on his mission to capture as many World War II veterans as possible,” said Patricia Murphy, executive director of Belmont Village Hollywood. “We wanted our residents to have the opportunity to share their stories with their families as well as fellow residents.”

Ratcliffe, who has lived at Belmont Village Hollywood for three and a half years, said he was proud to be part of Sanders’ project. He said Memorial Day is a special holiday when people should reflect on those who served their country.

“I appreciate all the people who were in the military,” Ratcliffe said. “[Memorial Day] reminds you that people died [and] war is a terrible thing.”