Photograph album documenting her experiences as a cornet player with the Women Marines Reserve Band from 1944-1945 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The scrapbook contains 189 photographs, plus related ephemera as well as 17 souvenir photos. The photographs document family in Seattle and Los Angeles area from 1941-1944 and her service with the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve Band, in 1944 and 1945, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The images depict band members marching and rehearsing, playing for recruits as they arrive by train, boarding buses, recreating (including a group boat ride and trip to the beach), and lounging in and around their barracks. Other materials include newspaper clippings, resumes, a typed history of the Marine Band (1pp), two pages of manuscript notes, a personal business card for Helen Hammond of the “Dixie Combo Big Band,” and a mimeographed page humorously describing the different varieties of the male kiss. In addition, tipped into the album are a three page hand drawn cartoon titled “A Bird of Story or Let’s Chow”, a red ribbon with Helen’s name on it, a Marine Corps Women’s Reserve stamp, and two U.S. Marine Corps stickers. See also: https://medium.com/nc-stories-of-service/helen-hammond-and-the-camp-leje... Helen Hammond MCWR Band Programs, WWII 223, WWII Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.
Helen L. Hammond was born 19 December, 1923, in Black Diamond, Washington State. She enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve (WR) in 1944. Hammond was sent for boot camp at Camp Lejeune, NC. Due to her high school orchestra experience, Private First Class Hammond was accepted after boot camp into the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Women’s Reserve Band (abbreviated as MCWR Band), which was composed of 46 Women Marines. Nicknamed “Chirp” by her bandmates, she played cornet in the band until it was disbanded in late 1945. After her military service, Hammond went on to have a career in women’s big bands, settling in the Los Angeles area and touring with groups like The George A. Hormel Girls Caravan and the Ada Leonard Orchestra. Helen Hammond died on 22 March, 2014.
