When Eva Brown got the phone call telling her she was going to be a grand marshal in the Oak Harbor Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 8 this year, she thought there was some sort of mistake.

One of the three chosen grand marshals, Brown was a member of the Navy Waves during World War II. The other two grand marshals, Francis Skinner and Pat Ricketts, are also WWII veterans.

“I really feel honored that they do recognize the women,” said Skinner, who was also a member of the Navy Waves during WWII. “For a while, the women weren’t really recognized as service people.”

Skinner enlisted in the military in 1943 because joining the navy was all in the family.

“All the boys were in the service, including my brothers. I thought it appropriate that I join,” she said. “And it was a good experience.”

According to Brown, it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing, being members of the Waves.

“The purpose for our being accepted in the military was so we could replace the men at the desk,” Brown said, “so they could go to sea duty. Some of them were happy to be released from working at a desk. Of course, there were some that kindly resented us.”

But Brown said the majority were grateful for the women joining the ranks, and her experience in Navy Waves was a good one.

She joined the Navy after seeing posters around town while she worked as a teacher, ones that said things like “You in Navy Blue” or “Navy Needs You.”

“I took my one day of sick leave and went to Little Rock and enlisted in the military,” she said. “I was very proud of myself.

“I took the bus down and, returning, I thought, ‘I’m a veteran. I’m a veteran.’ ”

After WWII, Brown used her GI Bill to finish earning her teaching degree.

Ricketts joined the military for similar reasons as Skinner.

“I decided to enlist because I had three brothers in the service and I thought I should get in and do something too,” she said.

Ricketts was in the Army Air Corps as a priority and traffic officer for the Air Transport Command Branch.

She was stationed in Karachi, India, for five months.

Now she’s been chosen to be one of the grand marshals in the Veterans Day Parade.

“I think it’s quite an honor,” Ricketts said.

Brown said the three women, who met after the Oak Harbor Senior Center started a group for female veterans of WWII, have walked in Veterans Day parades in the past, for many years in Coupeville and in both the Oak Harbor ones since they started in 2012.

Seeing all the young veterans in the service now at events like that is something Skinner enjoys.

“It was heartening, too, that some of these young gals said that we really paved the way for them to join the service,” Skinner said, “because we were the first to join the Navy.

“It was a breakthrough for them, especially for the women.”

Brown views being selected as a grand marshal to be humbling.

“It’s an honor to be recognized, but I think the honor goes to somebody else,” she said, mentioning that Ricketts in particular deserved it as a pilot and officer in the army.

“I gave so little to the military compared with what it gave me,” Brown said.