Completion of four‑year Naval Reserve enlistment

On 7 August 1919, Loretta Perfectus Walsh’s four‑year enlistment in the United States Naval Reserve formally concluded, and she left active duty.[3][12] Having enlisted on 17 March 1917 under wartime emergency provisions, she served through World War I and remained in the inactive reserve until the end of her term, receiving the World War I Victory Medal for her service.[7]

By the time her enlistment ended, the Navy had demobilized most Yeoman (F) personnel, reflecting a broader postwar trend of reducing women’s formal military roles despite their demonstrated effectiveness. Walsh’s transition out of service mirrored that of thousands of other women who had contributed vital clerical and administrative labor but were not offered permanent postwar military careers.[2][7]

The completion of her enlistment is historically significant because it bookends a transformative period during which women’s enlisted service was first recognized and then scaled back. Walsh’s full four‑year term established that women could meet the obligations and expectations of regular reserve enlistment, challenging any notion that their participation was merely temporary or symbolic.[3][12] Her continued status in the inactive reserve until 1919 underscored that she remained, in law and in fact, a member of the armed forces.

Walsh’s honorable completion of service became part of her legacy as a pioneer. While she did not remain in uniform beyond the emergency, her example helped fuel later advocacy for permanent integration of women into the Navy and other services, influencing policy debates that culminated in mid‑twentieth‑century reforms.