To Live and Die a WASP- The 38: Gertrude Vreeland “Tommy” Tompkins Silver - 26 October 1944

WASP Gertrude Vreeland “Tommy” Tompkins Silver – One of The 38

(16 October 1912 – 26 October 1944)

(Excerpt from To Live and Die a WASP)

Gertrude Vreeland Tomkins (43-W-7) had stuttered all of her life. Even after a year tending goats in the tranquil country, the shy New Jersey girl couldn’t help herself through one embarrassing conversation after another. She had graduated from the prestigious Kent Place, a girl’s private school in Summit, New Jersey, but years of teasing from other students had only made things worse, and a year in the countryside just wasn’t enough.

WASP Pilot Gertrude Vreeland Tompkins Silver

 Gertrude was the third and youngest daughter of Vreeland and Laura Tompkins, born October 16, 1912. … The family lived quite comfortably and the Vreeland daughters had the pick of all the finest colleges, but perhaps, because of her shyness, Gertrude modestly chose the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women in Ambler, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia. There, her interest in farm animals blossomed… For the next decade, when she wasn’t home helping her father at his factory, Gertrude made frequent trips to all parts of the world, sometimes with family, but usually alone. She wanted to see the world’s farms and gardens. She traveled to England, Italy, Spain, and France. Her family remembers that during her trip to New Zealand and Australia in the winter of 1935-1936, Gertrude tried diligently to convince Australian government officials to encourage more people to raise goats instead of cattle, because, as she said, goats were better for the environment and also more nutritious.

Gertrude’s sister, Elizabeth Whittall, told a reporter that when Gertrude was young, she fell in love with a young pilot who was teaching her to fly at a Long Island airfield. No one remembers his name. Gertrude loved to fly and she soon found that aviation had a major advantage. “She didn’t stutter when she was in a plane, or the whole time she was in the WASP,” Whittall said. Probably inspired in part by thoughts of her young

WASP Pilot Gertrude Vreeland Tompkins Silver

man, airplanes had become Gertrude’s newest calling, replacing her farm animals. Sadly for her, the young man felt a sense of duty, and rather than wait for the United States to enter the war, he joined the RAF as a fighter pilot. Not long after his arrival in England he died when German pilots shot him down.

Gertrude entered training at Avenger Field on May 23, 1943, and was one of 59 out of 101 trainees to successfully graduate on November 13. Her assignment was with the 5^th Ferrying Group at Love Field in Dallas. For nearly a year she flew almost every type of plane produced for the Army, and after a month’s worth of training at the Palm Springs Army Airfield, she qualified to fly the P-51 Mustang and other pursuit aircraft. Perhaps it was at Dallas where she met Technical Sergeant Henry Mann Silver. …

Gertrude and Henry announced their plans to marry at the end of November 1943. … September

WASP Gertrude Vreeland Tompkins Silver & husband Sgt Henry Mann Silver

22, 1944, Gertrude and Henry, both in uniforms, married at the Tompkins’ summer home in Bridgehampton, New York. There wasn’t much time for a honeymoon as Gertrude and Henry returned to their duty assignments.

Returning to Love Field, Gertrude received orders to report to the North American Aviation factory alongside Mines Field (now part of the Los Angeles International Airport). She and 40 other women would fly brand new P-51 fighters from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey. ….

On October 26, 1944, Gertrude reported to Mines Field at about 2:00 in the afternoon. She had already flown over 753 hours and 46 of those hours were in P-51s. There was a lingering fog at about 2,500 feet. Temperatures were cool, hovering in the mid to lower 60s. Trouble with a canopy that wouldn’t lock and its subsequent repair, delayed her takeoff until sometime around 4:00 that afternoon. Leaving the runway, she flew west over Santa Monica Bay, disappearing into the fog. Because night was approaching and it would be too dark for her to fly all the way to the first scheduled overnight stay at Coolidge Airfield, Arizona, she would have to land and spend the night at Palm Springs. She never made it. Gertrude Silver had disappeared, but no one noticed for another four days, not until the 5^th Ferrying Group officials in Dallas realized they had not received any reports from Gertrude. They contacted Los Angeles to ask where she was. The next day an extensive search began from Santa Monica Bay in the west all the way east into Arizona. They didn’t find a thing. On November 1, the Army finally notified Henry Silver and Gertrude’s father that Gertrude was missing. She had vanished just 10 days after her 32^nd birthday. Although there have been many subsequent search attempts over the years, Gertrude has never been found.

Henry never remarried and continued to raise his adopted daughter as his own, telling the world that Gertrude was her mother. … In 1964, Henry gave his daughter away in marriage. Six months later—he died at age 60.