Barbara Metras, 99; turned intrepid nature into noted Navy career

BARBARA METRAS

Barbara Metras was fiercely independent. Growing up in South Boston, one of nine equally strong children of Irish immigrant parents, she stood out for her intrepidness.

"Aunt Barbara had a belief that anything was possible," said Sally Kelly, a judge in Boston Municipal Court. She said her aunt inspired her to pursue a career in public service. "She felt mine was a continuance of her own."

In wartime 1942, the then-Barbara Flaherty showed her mettle and love for her country by joining the WAVES, the women's division of the US Navy. When she retired 20 years later, she was cited by the Navy as the first WAVE - and believed to be the first woman in the US armed forces - to retire after completing a 20-year enlistment.

Mrs. Metras, who from 1942 to 1962 served throughout the country, including in Pearl Harbor as a storekeeper in charge of supplies, died Sept. 17 of congestive heart failure at John Adams Healthcare Center in Quincy. She was 99 and had been living in Squantum.

Her family said it was her sense of adventure as well as her patriotism that motivated her war service. "It was 1942, when women didn't have much independence," her niece said.

Mrs. Metras, whose husband, George H., was a career Navy man, retired as chief petty officer, the Navy's highest noncommissioned rank.

In a letter in 1962, when she was released to inactive duty at the US Naval Air Station in San Diego, Commanding Officer W.M. Collins wrote of her accomplishments.

"You . . . establish a new 'first' in the Navy by becoming the first WAVE to transfer to the Fleet Reserve," Collins wrote. "Let me congratulate you on reaching this milestone.

"Your Good Conduct Medal with five stars leaves no doubt as to your unquestionable devotion to duty. All who have served with you for these 20 years can be as proud, as we, your final shipmates, of your record."

Over the years, her niece said, Mrs. Metras maintained "a tall and thin military bearing. Aunt Barbara was lovely," Kelly said, "and so grateful to the Navy for the opportunities it had given her."

Barbara D. Flaherty was born in South Boston to Irish immigrants Patrick and Sarah (Hernon) Flaherty and was taught in South Boston by the Sisters of Notre Dame, her family said. She attended South Boston High School and took business school courses.

She joined the original WAVES company of 72 women from Massachusetts, another niece, Anne Kelly Contini of Arlington, said, and attended boot camp and storekeeper school at the University of Indiana.

She would later tell her nieces and nephews about the years when there was an air base in Squantum, where pilots from England were also trained. "Many of those fliers came with very little material possessions, and Aunt Barbara would outfit them with socks and shoes," a nephew and retired Navy man, Daniel Flaherty of Marco Island, Fla., recalled.

Besides being good at accounting and supplying troops and ships, Mrs. Metras was also a crack shot.

According to the New Bedford Standard-Times, she captained a WAVE pistol team "that defeated all competition, including a Boston Police Department team and a contingent of British experts."

Her meeting with Mr. Metras was a storybook one. Daniel Flaherty felt they were "fated to be together."

A Navy man for 30 years, Mr. Metras had "served on submarines and about every type of surface craft, from destroyers to battleships," the Globe said in a story about Mrs. Metras's retirement in 1962.

Her niece Anne said the couple met when Barbara was stationed at the Fargo Building in Boston and George Metras had come to her office to pick up his paycheck.

"When he presented his ID, Barbara noted that they had shared the same birthday - Jan. 19, 1909," she said.

"Right in the middle of our courtship, I got orders to report to Pearl Harbor," in 1950, Mrs. Metras told The Standard-Times. "I was there for 2 1/2 years, but he wrote every day."

The couple wed in 1952, and at various times lived in Mattapoisett, Portsmouth, R.I., and Marco Island, Fla. They frequently traveled abroad, until Mr. Metras's death in 1983.

Mrs. Metras continued to travel to Florida until her health declined.

She was the last of nine siblings to die.

When asked what had kept her healthy for so long, another niece, Ellen K. Leonard of Canton, said she would often advise them to "keep busy, eat the right foods, don't live to eat. 'Remember,' she would say, 'It takes a lean horse to run a long race.' "

Mrs. Metras also leaves two stepdaughters, Patricia Dever of Glens Falls, N.Y., and Barbara Pruschki of Pinellas Park, Fla. Services have been held. Mrs. Metras's ashes will be dispersed at sea off Squantum and Marco Island.