Virginia Koss honored for her military service in Kentucky

Editors Note: This story originally ran in Garrad Central Record in Lancaster, Kentucky. Thank you to Ted Cox, of the Record, and Emily Toadvine of Heritage Hospice for allowing this story to run in the PCN.

Virginia Lee Koss, a 92 year old WWII female veteran, celebrated her 92nd birthday at the Bryantsville United Methodist Church (Lancaster, KY ) on July 3.

Koss was surrounded with family and friends and, to her surprise, was honored by Sharon Martin from Heritage Hospice for her military service to our country.

Koss was presented with a lapel pin, certificate, and a handmade red, white, and blue afghan. She lived in Malta, Montana a very rural area for years with her late husband (Adam) and now she resides with her son and daughter-in-law, Lee and Maxine Koss, in Garrard County.

“My interview with Mrs. Koss was life changing for me, since I have never met a female WWII veteran in the nine years I’ve worked with veterans and the history and stories are never ending,” Martin, from Heritage Hospice, said. “It was a wonderful party and her family made it so special with fresh flowers and a homemade patriotic cake. It was truly a privilege and a blessing to have met her and her family.”

Koss entered the military later than most. After attending college for four years to become a physical education teacher and enjoying her time on the college swim team, she went into the Navy as a WAVE from 1944-1946 where she was sent to Chicago with her blue uniform, which is now on display at a local museum in Malta.

“There wasn’t much going on in Malta with a population less than 2,500 people, so I thought the Navy would be an adventure,” Koss said.

She had no girlfriends and homes were at least five to seven miles apart in Malta. Since she was not old enough to join her dad had to sign for her to go.

After going to Chicago she was transferred to a hospital in Washington DC, where she was assigned not as a nurse but a pharmacy mate and later was trained to do occupational therapy. She was assigned mostly with those soldiers who were suffering from mental illness and post- traumatic stress disorder.

“They never bothered me and I never seen any of them again,” she said.

She recalled a story from her time in Washington as well. While serving one day there was a commotion in the building and she stood at the door and watched President Franklin D. Roosevelt being wheeled down the hall by his body guards.

“I could have reached out and touched him,” she said.

While in the Navy she also participated with the Navy Choir of 60 ladies and enjoyed going many places, like New York, to perform.

“It was a world of fun. It was like college but with no exams,” Koss joked.

After returning home from the Navy at age 26, she met her husband who was 32 years old and one of the last boys at home not already taken.

Koss’ late husband, Adam, had a history of his own being an aviation mechanic in the military and when he returned home broke eight wild mustangs one at a time .

“I asked her how she found a husband in an area where the houses were so far apart and she told me she went up on top of the hill and hollered,” Martin said. “She said he was a rancher and true cowboy. Hollering for a husband must have worked, they produced five beautiful children.”