Born: 1922, United States
Died: Unknown
Country most active: United States
Also known as: June Townsend
The following is republished from the National Park Service. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
June Townsend Gentry (Yuchi/Choctaw) served in the US Coast Guard during World War II, one of the 800 Native American women to join the US military.
Early Life
June Townsend Gentry was born in 1922 in Oklahoma. She had Native American ancestry on both sides of her family. She grew up with her Yuchi family: her grandfather, Bird Burgess, her mother, Ella A. Burgess and sister, Anne Alice Townsend. She reported her father had Choctaw heritage and that Gentry was 9/16 Native American. Gentry attended Oklahoma Presbyterian College for Girls, an institution to educate and assimilate Native American women. The College was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. At 18, she married Blue Gentry Jr. in February, 1941.
World War II Service
Gentry worked briefly at Douglas Aircraft Company, taking advantage of the employment opportunities for women in war time industries, before enlisting in the Coast Guard.
Gentry joined the SPARS, the women’s branch of the US Coast Guard in 1943. She was part of the Sooner Squadron, a group of women from Oklahoma. She trained at Palm Beach in Florida. During her time in training, she prepared to do basic office work for the Coast Guard. “I’ll be very happy when my ‘boot’ training is completed,” Gentry told the Tulsa World, “for although I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent here, I want to do my part in winning this war.”
Records are harder to find for Gentry than other Native American members of the Sooner Squadron. There is little information about her time during and after SPARS available but she, like the other volunteers, contributed to the war effort.