If you see this picture any where else it will say that it is Julie Penrose, that
is not true.
Gladys did not have an easy life, her father, James McMillan (son of a senator) died when she was around 9, her brother died the same year as her father. She inherited most of her father's wealth. Her nickname was Jewel and her grandmother McMillan was a saving grace for her. After her father's death she lived with her grandmother, seeing her mother rarely. A car accident almost claimed her life but she lived.
She went to school in Europe and spoke french. When her mother remarried she told the man that he was not her father and never would be. My father told her he understood and did not expect her to call him father. My father was treated as an outsider in her family but never took it personal.
Gladys married a count from Belgium as many did in those days. What these women did not know, is that during war time the United States government would take thier trust funds and property leaving them with no money. The government took over 21 million dollars from these women and called them enemies. The list is staggering, a few of these women were Gladys Vanderbilt Szechcnyi daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, they took 9 million away from her. The widow Baroness Cornelia Roosevelt Zedlitz daughter of Charles Roosevelt, they took 1,200,000 from her. Countess Marguerite Victorine de Setuers Obendorff, related to the Astors and shared in Jacob Astors estate. Then of course there was Gladys, Countess Cornet de Ways Ruart, they took over 5 million from her, all of it was from her father.
I don't believe that our government had the right or even has the right to take away people's money and property in war time. Even worse is to call them enemies. This is a part of American history that is ugly but all countries have an ugly side.
