Wilfred Gilbert was my father-in-law. He was in the Army reserves at the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and he was sent to the South pacific theater of the war shortly thereafter. He manned the radio communications, and therefore never fired a shot, but was often in the line of fire nonetheless. He was proud of the fact that while other soldiers had to train with 60 pound field packs, he had to train with that and his radio equipment as well. After the war, he settled in Springfield Massachusetts where he began raising his family. He and his wife, Blanche, had three children, Rosalie, Wilfred Junior and Eugene. He went to work at the Springfield armory, where he was trained as a machinist. When the children were still young, they moved to El Cajon, California, and later to San Jose. He went to work for Ames Research, a branch of NASA as an experimental machinist, tool and die maker. He worked on a number of projects that went up in the space shuttle. He retired from there in 1983. Wilfred cared deeply about his family and enjoyed his grandchildren. He took his grandson, John Gilbert on a cross country trip when he was six years of age which took him to Yellowstone, Canada to visit with French Canadian relatives, New York, Washington D.C., down to Florida to Disney world and Cape Canavarel, and on to the Grand Canyon. It was a memorable trip. He was generous almost to a fault and is fondly remembered by his family. He passed away in 1987 of a heart attack brought on by complications from pneumonia and diabetes.
Wilfred Gilbert was my father-in-law. He was in the Army reserves at the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and he was sent to the South pacific theater of the war shortly thereafter. He manned the radio communications, and therefore never fired a shot, but was often in the line of fire nonetheless. He was proud of the fact that while other soldiers had to train with 60 pound field packs, he had to train with that and his radio equipment as well. After the war, he settled in Springfield Massachusetts where he began raising his family. He and his wife, Blanche, had three children, Rosalie, Wilfred Junior and Eugene. He went to work at the Springfield armory, where he was trained as a machinist. When the children were still young, they moved to El Cajon, California, and later to San Jose. He went to work for Ames Research, a branch of NASA as an experimental machinist, tool and die maker. He worked on a number of projects that went up in the space shuttle. He retired from there in 1983. Wilfred cared deeply about his family and enjoyed his grandchildren. He took his grandson, John Gilbert on a cross country trip when he was six years of age which took him to Yellowstone, Canada to visit with French Canadian relatives, New York, Washington D.C., down to Florida to Disney world and Cape Canavarel, and on to the Grand Canyon. It was a memorable trip. He was generous almost to a fault and is fondly remembered by his family. He passed away in 1987 of a heart attack brought on by complications from pneumonia and diabetes.
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