Roberta “Randy” Tidmore was waiting at a bus terminal in Chicago more than 80 years ago on her way back to Rockford, Illinois, when a group of handsome young men in the U.S. Marine Corps walked past.
For the 21-year-old, then serving in Rockford as a Rosie the Riveter — one of thousands of women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II to support the U.S. war effort — it was the push she needed to join the Marines herself.
“They looked so nice, and I thought, ‘Gee, that looks good,’” Tidmore told The San Diego Union-Tribune with a smile Tuesday at the Women’s Museum of California in Balboa Park, where about 150 people gathered to celebrate her recent 103rd birthday, officially March 19.
Tidmore’s sense of humor and energy are evident. But she also has a life of service under her belt that suggests her interest in joining the U.S. Marines wasn’t just because of the men already enlisted.
As one of the last remaining Rosie the Riveters, Tuesday’s celebration honored Tidmore’s legacy in the military and her lifelong volunteer efforts — including work with groups such as the Women Marines Association and the now-defunct San Diego Globe Guilders, which raised funds for the Old Globe Theatre.
The event included a screening of an episode of “Trailblazing Women,” part of the Women’s Museum of California’s video series, that focused on Tidmore’s life and career.
And Tidmore was presented with a surprise birthday gift: a package of 10 miniature bottles of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky, a favorite of hers.
“We are celebrating a woman who embodies history,” said Laura Mitchell, the executive director of the museum and the vice president of programs at the San Diego History Center.
In her 103 years, Tidmore has witnessed and been a part of key moments in U.S. history.
She became a Rosie in 1943 after a few years of college at the University of Iowa — including a stint at nursing school, which wasn’t for her.
As a Rosie, Tidmore was assigned to help build B-26 airplane wings for the war effort at a manufacturer in Rockford before she decided to enlist in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve.
There, she became one of about 23,000 women who served in the Marines during World War II and took on jobs such as mechanics, clerks and aerial gunnery instructors.
For Tidmore’s part, she served as a driver, transporting military officers from the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia to Washington, D.C. Later, she drove a garbage truck around Quantico — a job she especially loved.
Tidmore’s eyes light up when she talks about driving, and how much she loves it. “I don’t know why, but I do, and I’ve driven all over the United States,” she says.
It wasn’t easy work, though. She even temporarily had her driver’s license suspended after she crossed an intersection in her garbage truck in front of a general’s marked car.
And at times she faced discrimination as a woman. She described in the “Trailblazing Women” episode that, while working in San Diego, she was refused food and drinks by the Red Cross, which was providing support to military personnel during the war.
“It’s not a piece of cake to come into the Marine Corps,” Jim Gruny, the community liaison officer for Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, told the audience Tuesday. “In 1944, when you were female, it was almost unheard of.”
Tidmore was discharged in August 1946, after attaining the rank of sergeant, and went on to work for United Airlines as a flight attendant. In 1960, she married her late husband, Terry Tidmore, and the two moved to Baja California to start a tomato farm. She later moved to San Diego.
But she was never too far removed from the Marines and her contributions to the service.
She was honored by the Retired Marine Chapter in Chula Vista in 2016, and at the Veterans Museum in Balboa Park the following year. She was part of the 2016 Honor Flight, which honors veterans with a visit to Washington, D.C. And in 2021, she was named a woman of dedication by the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary of San Diego County.
And while women like Tidmore weren’t allowed to serve in combat during World War II, they helped pave the way for future generations, said Julie Roland, a naval aviator based in Coronado, who also spoke at the event.
Roland flies an MH 60 Romeo, a helicopter used on missions for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, medical evacuation and search and rescue.
“I have been an officer for 10 years … and still, I’m often the only woman in the room,” Roland said. “But on tough days at work, I remind myself that I’m continuing the work that women like Randy started. Like them, my presence and performance proved to my male colleagues and to the world that I belong.”
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