Clara Vonada joined the Navy Mother’s Club in May 1938, shortly after her son, Melvin, signed up.

Two-and-a half years later, she became a member of another club — now known as the Gold Star Mothers — when Melvin was one of the first Helenans to lose his life in World War II.

On Memorial Day 1942, she received an Emblem of Honor pin in recognition of her late son.

Then in the Army Day Parade on April 6, 1944, in honor of having four sons in the military, she was chauffeured down main street with Gov. Sam Ford, who gave a speech at Hill Park.

The war became an increasingly large part of her life, as it did for many Helena families during that era.

All told, four of Charles and Clara Vonada’s six sons served during World War II — Melvin, Donald, Walter and Bruce, who was known as “Rosie.”

Charles Vonada had served as a cavalryman prior to World War I, breaking horses for the Army in Wyoming and later at Fort Keough in Miles City.

The family then relocated to Helena.

Melvin, the second oldest son, was the first to enlist. The Helena High football player — who took fourth place in the cowboy category of the Vigilante Day Parade on the same street where his mother would take her somber ride a few years later — joined the Navy at 17.

He completed boot camp at San Diego’s Naval Training Center, and then was stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger.

Melvin witnessed the World’s Fair in New York City from two different perspectives: anchored for two weeks in New York City harbor, and then flying overhead in a Navy bomber.

He posted the highest scores in his metal-smithing class at Corpus, Christi and was promoted to Petty Officer Third Class.

But his next posting proved to be fateful. He was shipped to Pensacola, Fla., where his brother Don was serving in the parachute loft of the Navy’s training base, to undergo flight training as an enlisted pilot in the Naval Air Corps.

On Dec. 17, 1941, just three days after completing flight training — and 10 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor — Melvin died in a plane crash during a training exercise. He was 20 years old.

His brother Don returned home with his remains for the funeral in Helena.

“Melvin Vonada was of exceptional intelligence and had been honored highly when he was selected for flight training, as only the best enlisted men are given the opportunity,” Chief Machinist Mate Donald Crumley, the recruiter who signed Vonada, told the Helena Daily Independent.

Donald joined in December 1939, and was promoted to Aviation Ordinanceman Second Class on June 14, 1941. He was trained both as a deep-sea demolitions expert and as an airplane gunner.

He served in the Pacific Theater of Operations aboard the carrier USS Enterprise, which was involved in more action than any other ship during the war, earning 20 battle stars.

As an aircraft gunner, Donald was shot down several times, according to his son, Jim. He lost a kidney when his plane crash-landed on the deck of the Enterprise and he was impaled on a railing after being thrown from the aircraft.

Jim Vonada said his father was involved in three different wars over his 30-year naval career.

“Dad was shot down a couple times in Korea, ended up spending a year in the Portsmouth Naval Hospital,” said Jim, himself a career Air Force man and Vietnam veteran, in a telephone interview from his home in Keller, Texas. “During Vietnam, he took part in the Guided Missile Unit 41 project, working on the aircraft’s Sparrow missiles.”

Donald retired as a Chief Petty Officer in 1969, and passed away 20 years later in Mississippi.

Walter Vonada, the third Vonada brother to enlist, was attending Helena High when he quit school to join the Navy in May 1940.

The Helena Daily Independent noted on June 14, 1941, that Walter was serving on a “Man of War” ship.

He went on to spend the war in the Pacific, where he served on the Saratoga and the Enterprise, along with his brother Donald.

Walter was discharged from the service in September 1945. He worked as a Chicago policeman for 10 years. After returning to Helena for several years, the family relocated to Phoenix, where Walter served on the police force there for 10 more years.

Walter passed away in Phoenix at 70 years of age.

Bruce “Rosie” Vonada was a paperboy for the Daily Independent growing up in Helena.

He joined his older brothers in the war effort in February 1942. The paper announced on May 28, 1942, “Army private Bruce Vonada is stationed at Gieger Field, Wash.”

One of his tours of duty with the Army Air Corps took place on Tinian Island, in the Marianas chain in the South Pacific.

Rosie was there the same time as the Enola Gay, prior to its mission to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

He was discharged in November 1945. Rosie worked at several jobs in Helena, including the TOK Garage and Northwest Motors, before operating “Rosie the Barber” shop for over 20 years. He passed away in Butte in 1989.

Two of the younger Vonada brothers, who both still reside in Helena, also had hitches in the armed forces. Ray served with the 174th Military Police Battalion, in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Robbie Vonada belonged to the 163rd Division’s medical unit at Fort Harrision.

Curt Synness: 449-2150 or curt52s@bresnan.net