Idaho issuing commemorative silver medallion honoring women who served

PARMA (Idaho Statesman) – When Bernie Pollard looks at a photo of his late wife, Wanda Pollard, he smiles, gives a wistful shake of his head and says, almost to himself, “She was quite a gal. She was quite a gal.”

Now that image of Wanda Pollard will be forever emblazoned on a commemorative silver medallion that’s being issued by the Idaho State Treasurer’s Office in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.

The medallion honors women from different branches of the military from different conflicts. A “soft launch” and announcement of the medallion are scheduled for an event Sunday, March 16, at the Warhawk Air Museum. A more formal launch and release of the details of the medallion are scheduled for March 23 with legislators and the governor at the Capitol, State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth told me Friday.

I’ve been told there will be four other “incredible” women featured on the coin. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, and some of the details are still being worked out. So consider this a tease to more information coming out soon about the medallion and the other women featured.

In the meantime, let me share some background on one of the women, Wanda Pollard.

In finding images to use on the medallion, a committee that included Ellsworth and state legislators worked with Sue Paul, founder of the Warhawk Air Museum, which has an extensive collection of military memorabilia, including a collection lent by Bernie Pollard.

It was out of that collection that the images were selected.

“They went through all the pictures of the girls,” Bernie Pollard told me when I visited him last month at his home in Parma. “They looked at every one of them and they picked Wanda. That was quite an honor.”

Paul called Pollard to let him know that Wanda’s photo had been one of the images selected.

“He was so happy when I talked to him,” Paul said. “It just made me so happy to hear how excited the families are.”

About three years ago, Bernie Pollard had called me up to see if I’d be interested in writing a story about his late wife, Wanda. I spent an hour or so visiting with him, and I wrote an Editor’s Notebook column in the Idaho Press-Tribune, where I was working at the time.

Bernie and Wanda had been married for 57 years when she died in 2015. He was thinking back on her life and felt she just needed to be recognized in some way, and he was hoping I would write an article for the paper.

Bernie told me about a letter of recommendation from the office of Admiral Jerauld Wright, U.S.N., Commander in Chief, United States Atlantic Fleet, Naval Base, Norfolk, Virginia, dated 6 January 1958.

Addressed to “Miss Wanda Scott” (her maiden name), the letter is yellowed and fading but is otherwise kept carefully and in remarkably good condition.

“As a hostess for Admiral Wright, Miss Scott was required to meet and attend many high-ranking civilians, foreign dignitaries and service officials,” reads the letter, signed by Chief of Staff, Navy Capt. R. N. Sharp. “The successful performance of which required utmost tact, a girl with a pleasing disposition, and with sufficient self-confidence to meet the public well. Miss Scott possesses all these traits and utilized them to a marked degree in carrying out her assignments.”

Bernie and Wanda went to Parma High School together but went their separate ways after graduation. He played baseball for the Boise Pilots, and Wanda worked for a doctor’s office in Nyssa.

Bernie was drafted into the Air Force in 1951. His military career was cut short by a truck accident in Texas, and he made his way back to Parma, finding work as a meat cutter at the local grocery store.

Wanda Scott, meanwhile, joined the Navy in 1953 somewhat on a lark, when she and two of her friends all agreed to join the military together. Her two friends backed out, but Wanda kept her end of the deal and spent five years and seven months traveling all over the world, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as flight hostess for Adm. Wright.

After leaving the Navy in 1958, Wanda made her way back to Parma and started working at the M&W Market, where Bernie was working as a meat cutter.

The rest is history. Bernie and Wanda married, bought a house (which Bernie still lives in), had three children and became pillars of the community.

Bernie meticulously keeps the letter of recommendation along with dozens of other memorabilia of Wanda’s, including that striking photo of Wanda from her days in the Navy.

It’s that photo that will now grace the commemorative silver medallion featuring five female Idaho veterans.

The medallion is being issued by the Idaho State Treasurer’s Office, and all proceeds from sales of the medallion will go to the Idaho Veterans Cemetery, Ellsworth said.

“When I saw the design, it was emotional,” Ellsworth said. “The contributions that these women made for real, it was emotional. When the families saw it, they all said right away, ‘This is beautiful.’”

Paul said she’s happy the Warhawk Air Museum was able to play a role in the creation of the medallion.

“This is going to be a permanent thing,” Paul said. “It will forever be a part of our state, the medallion, and not just have collections at the Warhawk, but a permanent thing statewide.”

Paul said the Warhawk Air Museum is hosting an event on Sunday,

Those attending the Vintage & Victory Brunch and Fashion Show today at the Warhawk will get a sneak peek at the medallion, scheduled to coincide with International Women’s Day.

“We don’t have a huge collection of women in the museum, because women are so hesitant to showcase themselves,” Paul said. “For example, we do not have a Vietnam female collection of any kind. I handle this kind of problem all the time, in talking with women veterans, because they just go, ‘Well, I didn’t do anything, and I’m not that important,’ and I talk to them and have to convince them they’re not bragging, they’re just allowing us the opportunity to honor their service to our country.”

The medallion is just another way to honor that service.

“They’re beautiful pictures and wonderful women, and they served our country so well,” Paul said.

For Bernie Pollard, he’s over the moon.

“She was quite a gal. She was quite a gal.”