WM History


HISTORY OF THE WOMEN MARINES

Since 1918, women have answered the
call to serve proudly in the United States Marines and the role of women in the Marines has evolved and expanded. All Women Marines can look forward to the future proudly, while never forgetting the women who made this future possible.


In 1918, the Secretary of Navy allowed women to enroll for clerical duty in the Marine Corps. Officially, Opha Mae Johnson is credited as the first woman Marine. Johnson enrolled for service on August 13, 1918; during that year some 300 women first entered the Marine Corps to take over stateside clerical duties from battle-ready Marines who were needed overseas. The Marine Corps Women's Reserve was established in February 1943. June 12th, 1948, Congress passed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act and made women a permanent part of the regular Marine Corps.

In 1950, the Women Reserves were mobilized for the Korean War and 2,787 women served proudly.


By the height of the Vietnam War, there were about 2,700 women Marines served both stateside and overseas. By 1975, the Corps approved the assignment of women to all occupational fields except infantry, artillery, armor and pilot/air crew. Over 1,000 women Marines were deployed in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990-1991.

Women make up 6.2% of the Marine Corps. They are integrated into nearly all Military Occupational Specialties in the Marine Corps, with the exception of offensive combat. They serve in every country and proudly carry on the traditions of those first trailblazers as they continue to open doors for future Marines to follow.

WOMEN MARINE MILESTONES
1918 - Pvt. Opha Mae Johnson becomes the first woman to enlist in the
Marine Corps Reserve
1943 - Colonel Ruth Cheney Streeter first Director of Women Marine Reservists
1943 - Captain Anne Lentz, first commissioned officer
1943 - Private Lucille McClarren first enlisted woman
1945 - first detachment of women marines arrives in Hawaii for duty
1948 - Colonel. Katherine A. Towle first Director of Women Marines
1953 - Staff Sergeant Barbara Olive Barnwell First female Marine to be awarded the Navy and Marine Corps medal for heroism. 
1960 -- First woman Marine is promoted to E-9 — Master Gunnery Sergeant Geraldine M. Moran 
1961 - The first woman Marine is promoted to Sergeant Major (E-9) — Bertha Peters Billeb  
1965 - The Marine Corps assigns the first woman to attachÚ duty. Later,
she is the first woman Marine to serve under hostile fire. (spelling)  
1965 Rose Franco the first Hispanic woman promoted to Chief Warrant Officer. 
1967 Master Sergeant Barbara Jean Dulinsky first woman Marine to serve in a combat zone in Vietnam.
1968 Lieutenant Colonel Jenny Wren was the first woman Marine to attend Command and Staff College
1970 - 1stLt Patricia Murphy was named the first woman Marine certified military judge.  
1986 - Rhonda LeBrescu Amtower was the first enlisted woman Marine to attend and graduate the Defense Language Institute where she studied Mandarin Chinese. After being commissioned she was the first and the only female attaché at the U. S.Hong Kong consulate from 86-88
1992 - Gunnery Sergeant Melody Naatz became the first female to don the flat brimmed "Smokey Bear" as a Drill Instructor 
1995 - Gilda Jackson was the first African American female Marine Colonel and the first woman to command the Naval Aviation Depot, Cherry Point, NC  
1997 - 1st group of women Marines complete male/female integrated Marine Combat Training Course at Camp Geiger, NC, with LCpl Melissa Ohm as honor graduate. 
1997 - Gunnery Sgt. Patricia Crimmins became the first female Marine to earn the drum major military occupational specialty (MOS 5521)
1999 - Sgt. Kelly L. Anderson is the first female to successfully complete Designated Marksman School at Fleet Combat Training Center Dam Neck, Virginia.
2001- Capt Vernice Armour becomes the first African American Pilot 
2002 - Sergeant Jeannette L. Winters the first U.S. servicewoman to die in the war on terrorism. 
2003 - Capt Vernice Armour becomes the first African American female combat pilot with combat missions in Iraq. 
2005 - Cpl. Ramona M. Valdez and Lance Cpl. Holly A. Charette first women Marines killed in Iraq when an improvised explosive device detonated near their convoy vehicle in Fallujah, Iraq 
2006 - Major Megan McClung becomes the first female Marine Officer to be killed in Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom. 
2009 - All-Female Marine Team Conducts First Mission in Southern Afghanistan
Today --Women serve in 93 percent of all occupational fields and 62 percent of all billets. Women constitute 6.2 percent of the Corps end strength and are an integral part of the Marine Corps.







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