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Show HILLTOP TIMES TIMES 5 December 17, 2009 MARY LOU GORNY/Hilltop Times Lt Col. (Ret) Daniel Hudson, volunteer for the Utah Women's Memorial project, holds up a scale model of the pavers to be used in the memorial patio. WOMEN From page 4 the family members of the WWII veteran and Marine Rybicki. "'I was the first in my family to serve in the military," Beatty said. Rybicki noted that her time in the Marines brought a change in her demeanor after her time of service. "More confident," she said in describing herself as a much younger girl. "I used to hide in the bedroom when someone would come over to visit the family. Now I speak up," she said. The daughter of first generation immigrants from an area then under Poland's rule, but now known as Lithuania, Rybicki speaks two languages and has visited her parents' homeland. She has cousins there who lived under communist rule and family accounts of relatives vanishing in the middle of the night with another family from' Russia supplanted in the home the next day taking'tiv'er their name. "They (other1 fela-"' rives) assumed they were sent to Siberia somewhere," she said, as they were never heard from again. A speedy distinguished visitor Rybicki laughs about the time her unit scrubbed up and put on their best uniforms, polished the barracks and stood in ranks, just so a distinguished general could drive past them, "So fast, I couldn't even make out who it was," she said. She missed President Harry Truman's visit. "My bunk wouldn't flip up a quarter upon inspection," she said, and she had to do compensatory duty. That was a rare incident, as she was an accomplished administrative sergeant who served so well that her captain only had to tell her who a letter was for and what it was about and she would compose and produce a letter her captain could sign. "I scored 176 on the aptitude test for office worker," she said proudly. Amid assignments — humor Full of humor, Rybicki recalled short sheets for late dormitory mates and never being put on Kitchen Patrol duty. "They needed me too much where I was at," she said, although she indicated a change once in awhile to the kitchens might have been nice. She keeps in touch with many of her friends from that period. "I stood up for one (friend) for her wedding," she said. And in those times of short rations during the war, gave her some stockings for her wedding During rationing time, everyone got together and gave what they had for special occasions like this. "One would give a pig, another their ration card — once I gave two bottles of whiskey so there would be something to celebrate with," she said. As for now, she said as she concluded her account of her rich experiences, "Every day is a blessing, God granting." For those interested in donating to the women's memorial or purchasing a brick paver for the patio for the memorial, contact Su Richards by mail at Fort Douglas Museum, 32 Potter St., Salt Lake City UT 84113. For information, call her at (801) 5811251, e-mail her at surichardsl@fortdouglas.org or drop in and visit with the staff at the Fort Douglas Museum. The patio pavers are of high quality and can include company logos along with an inscription or name and cost $100 per donated paver. KT MARY LOU GORNY/Hilltop Times Army Sgt 1st Class Melissa Beatty has experienced conflict in a war zone as a mother and in a position of leadership and shares some of the challenges and unique opportunities she had in Iraq, and what it was like to return home. Above, another of the groupings planned for the memorial is shown. Top, a photo from Marine Tech. Sgt. (Ret.) Janina Rybicki's photo album. Although she is not in the photo it gives a good representation of what her fellow troops wore for inspections. Below, this time the photo includes Rybicki on the right dancing with a young man at a birthday party. She served as a USO volunteer and helped to teach many a soldier or sailor how to dance. PHOTOS: COURTESY ART/Above MARY LOU GORNY/Hilltop Times/ Top and bottom "One would give a pig, another their ration card — once I gave two bottles of whiskey so there would be something to celebrate with." MARINE TECH. SGT. (RET.) JANINA RYBICKI, of how everyone would contribute to celebrate special events such as weddings during World War II rationing |