Happy Birthday Women Marines-Active,Reserve,Retired
We Thank You for your service and clearing the path by making it possible for today
Eachone of you are our roles moldes of
the Future United States Women Marines
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12 Aug 1918 World War I - - 305 "Reservists (Female)" were admitted into the Marine Corps to perform clerical duties, and thereby, "Free a Marine to fight." |
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13 Aug 1918 - Opha Mae Johnson, the first woman Marine, enlisted in Washington, D.C. |
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30 Jul 1919 - Major General George Barnett Commandant, issued orders for the separation of all women from the Reserve. |
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Colonel Ruth Cheney Streeter Was the First director of the Marine Corps Womens Reserve .By the end of World War II, 85 percent of the enlisted personnel assigned to Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps were women. Colonel Ruth Cheney Streeter recommended the position of director of the Marine Corps Women's Reserve be strengthened and placed directly under the office of the commandant. On June 12, 1948, Congress passed legislation giving women regular military status, placing them on a par with their male counterparts in the U.S. armed forces. |
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The first enlisted woman Marine was Lucille McClarren from
Nemahcolin, Pennsylvania.
The first enlisted class of 722 women reported to Hunter College,
New York, New York, in March 1943. Only one woman Marine ever served with the Office of Strategic Services in World War II. Captain Charlotte Day Gower served in Washington, D.C. She was formerly dean of women at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. When the Japanese attacked, she became a prisoner in a Japanese internment camp for five months, where she taught Chinese to fellow inmates. After repatriation, Gower joined the Marine Corps Women's Reserve, and later became its director of training. |
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The first commissioned officer in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve
was Captain Anne Lentz, A civilian clothing designer who began work on the women Marines uniforms. The first commissioned officer class of 71 women reported to Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, in March 1943. |
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Women in the Marine Corps 12 June 1948 - Congress passed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act (Public Law 625) which authorized the acceptance of women into the Regular component of the Marine Corps. Women could not exceed two percent of total service strength or hold permanent rank above lieutenant colonel. The Director of Women Marines would hold the temporary rank of colonel. 3 November 1948 - Colonel Katherine A. Towle, who had been the second Director of the Women's Reserve, was discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve and accepted a Regular commission as a permanent lieutenant colonel. The next day she was appointed the first Director of Women Marines, with the temporary rank of colonel. 1949 - The 3rd Recruit Training Battalion was formed at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, SC with Captain Margaret M. Henderson as the first commanding officer. The Women Officers' Training Class was established at Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, in June 1949 under the command of Captain Elsie E. Hill. August 1950 - Korean War - For the first time in history, Women Reserves were mobilized. 1 May 1953 - Julia Hamblet became Director of Women Marines--as a colonel. She held this post until 1 Mar 1959 18 Mar 1967 - 8 Nov 1967 - President Johnson signed into Public Law 90-130, a bill which repealed the limits on the number of women in the services, permitted permanent promotion to colonel, and provided for the temporary appointment of women to brigadier general if filling a flag rank billet. In his words, "Our Armed Forces literally could not operate effectively or efficiently without our women. 1974 - The Commandant approved a change in policy permitting the assignment of women to specified rear echelon elements of the Fleet Marine Force, but they could not be deployed with assault units or units likely to become engaged in combat. 1975 - The Marine Corps approved the assignment of women to all occupational fields except infantry, artillery, armor, and pilot/air crew. 30 Jun 1977 - The Office of the Director of Women Marines was disestablished. 11 May 1978 - Colonel Margaret A. Brewer was appointed to a general officer's billet as Director of Information, with the rank of brigadier general, thereby becoming the first women general officer in the history of the Marine Corps. Feb 1985 - Colonel Gail M. Reals became the first women selected by a board of general officers to be advanced to brigadier general. 1990-1991 - Approximately 1,000 women Marines deployed to Southwest Asia for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Jun 1992 - Brigadier General Carol A. Mutter assumed command of the 3rd Force Service Support Group, Okinawa, becoming the first women to command a Fleet Marine Force unit at the flag level. 23 Jul 1993 - 2nd Lieutenant Sarah Deal became the first woman Marine selected for Naval aviation training. She received her wings on 21 Apr 1995 and is now serving as a CH-53E pilot. Jun 1994 - Brigadier General Mutter became the first woman Major General in the Marine Corps and the senior woman on active duty in the armed services. 1 Oct 1994 - Restrictions on women's assignments were reduced to only units whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground. Jul 1996 - Lieutenant General Mutter became the second woman in the history of the armed services and the first woman Marine to wear three stars. She assumed duties as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. |
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On Nov. 10, 1943 A statue nicknamed Molly Marine was dedicated in New Orleans, Louisiana, to honor all women Marines. Because of building material restrictions during the war, the statue was made of marble chips and granite. |
| Today, 768 women account for 4.3 percent of all Marine officers and 8,051 women make up 5.1 percent of the active duty enlisted force in the Marine Corps. These numbers continue to grow, as do opportunities to serve. Ninety-three percent of all occupational fields and 62 percent of all positions are now open to women. Significant changes noticeable in training, as women are now receiving combat training and graduating from many formerly male-only special skills schools, and in the Fleet Marine Force, where women are showing up in non-traditional jobs and previously restricted units and deploying shipboard. The "firsts" for women in the Marine Corps in the past several years are too numerous to list separately. The bottom line: Women in the Marine Corps today, like their distinguished predecessors, continue to serve proudly, honorably, and capably in whatever capacity country and Corps requires. |
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Woman Combat Correspondent On June 27, 1950, four newspaper correspondents flew into the Korean war zone. They included Keyes Beech of the Chicago Daily News, Frank Gibney of Time, Burton Crane of the New York Times, and Marguerite Higgins of the New York Herald Tribune. Higgins was a graduate of the University of California and the Columbia School of Journalism. She joined the City Staff of the New York Herald Tribune in 1942 and two years later was sent to Europe as a war correspondent. There she achieved a distinguished record and in 1945 was made chief of the Herald Tribune's Berlin Bureau. Immediately after she went to Tokyo in 1950, the Korean War broke out. Two days after the fighting started she flew to the front lines. Gibney tried to discourage Higgins from going to Korea, insisting that Korea was no place for a woman. On this issue, Marguerite Higgins wrote, "But, for me, getting to Korea was more than just a story. It was a personal crusade. I felt that my position as a correspondent was at stake. Here I represented one of the world's most noted newspapers as its correspondent in that area. I could not let the fact that I was a woman jeopardize my newspaper's coverage of the war. Failure to reach the front would undermine all my arguments that I was entitled to the same assignment breaks as any man. It would prove that a woman as a correspondent was a handicap to the New York Herald Tribune." For a look at the Korean War from the perspective of a female war correspondent, read, "War In Korea: The Report of a Woman Combat Correspondent" by Marguerite Higgins, 1951. |
United States Armed Force Women
Very important American History of Women in the Military