![]()
MY TWENTY YEARS BEFORE THE MAST
Posted in: Female Marine, Life After the Corps, veterans, WWIIby Eileen Neiler Eileen A. Morgan Neiler born in East Conemaugh, Pennsylvania on 16 December 1923, the only child of John and Edna Morgan. Growing up during the Great Depression required moving many times as my father sought work. This sometimes meant spending only one year in any particular school. Most of my elementary school
![]()
United States Marine Corps Women Reserves. USMCWR
Posted in: Boot Camp, Female Marine, History, Marine Corps, Military, Training, USMC, Values, veterans, WMA History, Women Marines Association, WWII2023 Anniversary of Continuous Service of Women Marines History of our Anniversary. (by Jeannine Franz and Gail Horn) By the WMA History Committee Happy anniversary lady leathernecks! Or, is it happy birthday? This is a common debate, but the answer is simple. Every year, the Commandant of the Marine Corps writes a letter to women
![]()
80th Anniversary Message
Posted in: Female Marine, History, Marine Corps, Military, USMC, Values, veterans, WMA, Women Marines Association, WWIICelebrating 80 years since the USMC Women Reserves 13 Feb 2380 years ago, the slogan “Free a Marine to Fight” drew 19,000 women to the USMC Women Reserves during World War II. Today we are approximately 18,000 strong. We have moved from performing mainly clerical positions to filling combat infantry MOS slots worldwide. Every generation
![]()
Our History – Our Service
Posted in: Afghanistan, Awards, Conflicts, Female Marine, History, Iraq, Korean, Marine Corps, Military, Personal Stories, Values, veterans, Vietnam, WMA, WMA History, WWIIBy Rosa Osborn In 2010, as a warrant officer and several years in the Marine Corps, I thought I knew it all. I knew the history of the Marine Corps. We all do. I didn’t discover just how little I knew until 2010 while attending the WMA Convention in Denver. I was not only amazed
![]()
WMA Meet Our Member
Posted in: Awards, Female Marine, History, Life After the Corps, Marine Corps, Military, Personal Stories, USMC, veterans, WMA, WMA Chapters, Women Marines Association, WWIIRoberta “Randy” Tidmore Randy was one of 18,000 women who joined the Marines by that year. While comprising just 4 percent of the Marines, women worked as clerks, mechanics, and aerial gunnery instructors, among other jobs, and they helped pave the way for more than 1 million women who have since served in the U.S.
![]()
Corporal Germaine Laville
Posted in: Fallen Warrior Women, Female Marine, History, Marine Corps, Military, USMC, Values, WMA, Women Marines Association, Women of the Corps History Project, WWIICorporal Germaine Laville Laville lived in Plaquemine, La., graduated from LSU in 1942 with a bachelor’s degree in education and was a member of Chi Omega sorority. The oldest of seven children, she decided to represent her family in the World War II effort by enlisting in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve in July,
![]()
Sgt Mary Frances Danaher Griggs WWII USMCWR
Posted in: Family, Female Marine, History, Life After the Corps, Marine Corps, Military, Personal Stories, Training, USMC, WMA, Women Marines Association, WWIIBy Gary Griggs Mary Danaher was the oldest of 10 and born in St Joseph Mo on April 3, 1923. After High School she had a boyfriend and a good job. But when war broke out she felt someone in her family should represent the family in the war effort and with her brother not old enough she
![]()
Dorothy Schmidt Cole, oldest living Marine, dies at 107
Posted in: Boot Camp, Family, Female Marine, History, Life After the Corps, Marine Corps, Military, USMC, WMA, Women Marines Association, WWIIBY THÉODEN JANES JANUARY 13, 2021 05:33 PM, UPDATED JANUARY 14, 2021 02:34 P Dorothy “Dot” Cole, who enlisted as one of the earliest female Marine reservists in response to the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor and was widely celebrated around her birthday in September as the country’s oldest living Marine, died of a heart attack
![]()
Elizabeth Redfern Newberg USMCWR
Posted in: Family, History, Life After the Corps, Marine Corps, Military, Personal Stories, USMC, Values, veterans, WMA, WWIIMrs Newburg is celebrating her 100th birthday and her family is requesting cards. Please join the Women Marines Association in wishing her a VERY happy 100th Birthday and thank her for her service. Elizabeth Redfern was born in Titus County shortly after the First World War. The family later moved to Marshall, where she attended
![]()
WINIFRED BAER HODGIN
Posted in: Boot Camp, Conflicts, Female Marine, History, Marine Corps, Military, Personal Stories, USMC, veterans, WMA, Women Marines Association, WWIIWWII USMCWR By: Jon D, Hodgin She was born Winifred Baer on a dairy farm near the small town of Callicoon, New York on August 13, 1922. She graduated high school and then attended Albany State Teacher’s College, where she obtained a degree in education at the age of 19. She taught high school for
![]()
Marine Corps Women Reserves Camp Lejeune 1944
Posted in: Female Marine, History, Marine Corps, Military, USMC, WMA, Women Marines Association, WWIIA Pictorial Yearbook These photos are from the Camp Lejeune Women Marines yearbook from 1944. The book belonged to Margaret Guntle Shelton. Known affectionately as Marge she was a charter member of OR-3. Debra Barker said Marge was well read and didn’t hesitate to give her opinion on issues she felt strongly about. Marge, it
![]()
Sgt Ursula Fortenbacher Oleksy 1923 – 2020
Posted in: Female Marine, History, Marine Corps, Military, Personal Stories, USMC, veterans, WMA, WWIIBY: Dave Olesky Ursula Oleksy, who passed away July 12, 2020 at the age of 97. She was born on April 3, 1923 in NYC. She enlisted in the Marine Corps on January 7, 1952 from NYC. She was stationed in both San Diego, CA as well as Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She was promoted to