JiG Voices: A Family’s Service

By Lt. Col. Jackie Brill Crothers, USAFR (retired)

In December of 2006 I retired from the Air Force Reserve after almost 30 years of service, both active duty and Reserves, enlisted and officer. The last 15 years or so of my service was served at or from Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts as a squadron commander of four different squadrons; Services, Maintenance, Maintenance Operations and Logistics Readiness. During that time I also spent six weeks as Deputy Commander of Moron AB in Spain. While I am proud of the things I have done in my Air Force career, and grateful for having my life enriched so from all of these experiences, I am most proud of my family.

My husband served in the active duty Air Force for 24 years, as a Supply Superintendent and an In-flight re-fueler (boom operator) on a KC-135.

My Daughter, Beth, is a Tech Sgt with the Command Post at Westover. This assignment follows six years of active duty during which she was stationed at Travis Air Force Base. During that time, she did tours in Korea and Russia and was deployed three times to rather exciting destinations in the Mid-East, the last of which was in Iraq.

But we come from a long line of military service. My mother, Frances Abrams (Brill) wanted desperately to serve after Pearl Harbor, but she was too young. At that time, women were not allowed in the military until they were 21. So, while she awaited her 21st birthday, she volunteered as a spotter in Boston. From there she and her friend went to Connecticut to work at a Sekorsky aircraft manufacturing plant. My Mom was actually “Rosie the Riveter!” She did finally enlist and was stationed in Tallahassee, Florida until the war ended.

My father, Lt Myer Brill, enlisted after Pearl Harbor, and was soon after commissioned into the Signal Corps, where he served until the war’s end.

His Brother, Hyman Brill, was in the Army in a tank unit. He served bravely and was in a number of battles in Europe and Africa. He was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge, and decorated. But he refuses to admit this of discuss anything in depth. He is a shy and humble man.

My mother’s sister, Charlotte, was in the Navy as a Wave.

Her brother, Ben, was in the Army during the war also. He was a bit of a hell-raiser, though, and served throughout the war proudly, but with Velcro stripes, if you get my drift.

My Uncle Louie, also my mother’s brother, (12 kids in her family), was a medic and was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. He also spent enough time in the less glamorous islands of the South Pacific to get malaria. He is still with us, living with his girlfriend of ten years.

My mother’s younger brother, Alan Abrams, also served in the Army, during the Korean War.

So you see, my family is rich with selfless and brave men and women. But for them, I would never have had the courage to take that step.