On May 10, Commissioner Melinda Kane celebrated the 100th birthday of World War II veteran May Brill. Brill, a resident of Cherry Hill, joined the Navy’s Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) at age 20 during World War II. She was stationed in California and played a crucial role in a female supply unit, ensuring goods reached the United States Fleet in the Pacific.
Brill has been an activist for veterans’ rights for many years. In 2019, she co-founded Women are not Invisible, an organization that creates military hats specifically designed for women and encourages them to wear these hats with pride in their service. Brill also serves as the chairman of New Jersey’s Women in the Military, one of the chairpersons of the Veterans Memorial home in Vineland, NJ, an honorary commander of Jewish War Veterans post 126 and honorary commander for Jewish War Veterans for the state of New Jersey.
“May is an incredible woman who has dedicated her life to serving her community and advocating for veterans,” said Commissioner Kane, liaison to the Department of Veterans Affairs. “She has given so much of her life to bettering the world around her and she deserves to be celebrated for accomplishing something very few get to do – turning 100 years old. I am honored to be able to celebrate with May and her loved ones on this momentous occasion.”
In addition to her work with veterans, Brill has organized knitting thousands of hats for newborns in Israel and Camden County. She was also a recipient of the 2024 Camden County MLK Freedom Medal.
