Private First Class Helen Adella Shalovich became a U.S. Marine in order to join the fight in WWII. The daughter of Polish immigrants, she answered the call when her country’s need was great.

Helen’s parents were Fred Shahlovich and Helen Kowalski Shahlovich. They married when he was 16 and she was 19. Both of them had been born in Poland.[i] His father had finished the seventh grade and according to the 1930 census, her mother had not attended school. The couple spoke both English and Polish.[ii]

The young couple first had a son, Dominic Lawrence Shahlovich, in 1914. His baby sister, Helen, was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1918.[iii]

HER LIFE BEFORE MILITARY

The Shahlovich family owned a home in Hamtramck, Michigan in 1930. Her father, Fred, was a laborer at an auto plant and her mother was keeping house.[iv]

Helen attended school and according to the 1940 census, she graduated from high school. This would have been approximately 1936.

As the war years arrive, 1940 finds Helen living with her parents. She’s working as a stenographer for a refrigeration company. The family lives in a home they own in Hamtramck, Michigan, a neighbor to Detroit. Helen’s father, Fred, is a moulder for an aluminum company. A moulder is a person skilled at fabricating molds for casting metal products. Her mother kept the house. Living with them was her married brother, Dominic, an auto inspector, his wife, Virginia, a retail salesperson, and their toddler, Richard.[v]

HER MILITARY STORY

Helen enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Women’s Reserve on March 13, 1944. Her service number was 756316. It was at this time Helen’s name began being spelled Shalovich, dropping an “H” from her family’s spelling.

The Marine Corp established the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve on July 30, 1942. The plan was for women to take shore duty so men could be released for combat duty. The Army, Navy and Coast Guard already had women recruits by this time. Women Marines were assigned to over 200 different jobs from parachute rigger to cook to aerial gunnery instructor. By the end of WWII, 85 percent of enlisted personnel assigned to Headquarters of the U.S. Marine Corps were women.[vi]

Many nicknames for female Marines were suggested, such as the WAVES of the Navy. Major General Commandant Thomas Holcomb ruled out all nicknames. In a 1944 issue of Life Magazine, he said "They are Marines. They don't have a nickname and they don't need one. They get their basic training in a Marine atmosphere at a Marine post. They inherit the traditions of Marines. They are Marines."[vii]

PFC Helen Adalla Shalovich joined the U.S. Marine Corps in Detroit, Michigan. Muster rolls show she served in both Company B and Company C of the Women’s Reserve Battalion at Camp Lejeune. A stenographer in her civilian life, Helen was a clerk for Company C.[viii]

HER LAST DAY

Helen’s last day alive lasted only 20 minutes. She died a little after midnight on August 24, 1945. Her saga began three days earlier.

Helen was in an automobile accident in Jacksonville, North Carolina where Camp Lejeune is located. Another man, John Moody of Charlotte, North Carolina, was killed.[ix] Helen received “multiple extreme injuries” according to her death certificate. The accident occurred on August 21, 1945. Following the accident, Helen was in the field hospital at Camp Lejeune for three days until she passed away.[x]

She was 27.

HER GRAVE

Helen Shalovich was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.[xi]

RESEARCH NOTES

Helen’s military records spell her last name as SHALOVICH however the census records plus others for her family use the spelling SHAHLOVICH. Additionally, her death certificate spells her middle name Adalle, but all other records spell it as Adella. Research did not reveal any information as to the cause or details of the accident.

ABOUT THIS STORY

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

ADD TO THIS STORY

If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author. Click on the author’s name located at the bottom of the story page next to the words “added by.” Click on the author’s name to find the contact link.

[i]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4609313_00668?usePUB=true&_phsrc=Boc333&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=13715571

[ii]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4609313_00668?usePUB=true&_phsrc=Boc333&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=13715571

[iii]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4609313_00669?usePUB=true&_phsrc=Boc333&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=13715571

[iv]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4609313_00668?usePUB=true&_phsrc=Boc333&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=13715571

[v]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-01830-00271?usePUB=true&_phsrc=Boc342&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=84722040

[vi]https://www.usmcu.edu/Research/Marine-Corps-History-Division/Brief-Histories/Marines-in-World-War-II/Women-Marines-in-World-War-II/

[vii]https://www.nps.gov/articles/womenmarinesworldwarii.htm

[viii]

https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/1089/images/33068_272273-00135?usePUB=true&_phsrc=Boc360&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=18436464

[ix]https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92074060/1945-08-31/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1945&index=0&rows=20&words=Shalovich&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=North+Carolina&date2=1945&proxtext=%22Shalovich%22&y=19&x=11&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

[x]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/1121/images/S123_1292-0843?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=23b491ea29331b175f6c282fb4f4cc42&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Boc324&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=2235040

[xi]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/discoveryui-content/view/119405223:60525?tid=&pid=&queryId=af3c9924a9b980e919d0b32c9acd5c63&_phsrc=Boc330&_phstart=successSource

Marines

Helen Shalovich grave marker- findagrave