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Remembering Kathy Bruyere
March 2020
While only gone for two years this month, U.S. Navy Captain Kathy Bruyere’s legacy lives on. We “Flashback” to an article about a San Diegan who wasa truetrailblazer and made history. She is one of the reasons women are serving at sea today.
This retired Navy Captain knows a little something about being a trailblazer
TRAILBLAZER
By Holly Shaffner
The month of March is Women’s History Month and when we talk about someone who blazed the trails, one San Diegan comes to mind – Captain Kathy Bruyere, U.S. Navy retired.
What she did in 1978 changed the course for today’s Navy women. This (then) Lieutenant Commander (and five other co-plaintiffs) sued the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy. It was a very bold move with possible serious repercussions; but what the three enlisted and three officer women did then, laid the foundation for today’s generation.
Why would she risk so much? She said, “I just believe we should all have the same opportunities.”
To set the stage - it all started 30 years earlier as WWII was ending, and Congress didn’t know what to do with all those women who had just served as WAVES, WAC’s, WASP’s, SPAR’s and Marines. Kathy and her team did their research before they filed the lawsuit and they learned that Admiral Nimitz and General Eisenhower
Kathy Bruyere volunteering at Miramar National Cemetery Photo by: Nelvin C. Cepeda - San Diego Union-Tribune
had stated that we could not have won the war without the women – they were coders, pilots, Rosie’s and served in intelligence positions. She also learned that one of the most influential Congressmen of his time, Carl Vinson (the same Carl Vinson the Navy named an aircraft carrier after), wanted restrictions on what military women would be permitted to do.
Born was the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948. President Truman signed it into law and gave women permanent status in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines (the USCG was part of the Dept of the Treasury then). The act also gave the service Secretaries the authority to discharge women without specified cause and restricted women from flying aircraft engaged in combat and from being assigned to ships engaged in combat.
Fast forward to 1977 when the women of this class action lawsuit were being held up with advancements and promotions for doing the same jobs as their male counterparts. Kathy said that one of her fellow plaintiffs (a pilot) was told, “you can deliver supplies on the ship, just don’t land on the ship.”
In Kathy’s case, she was a well-respected officer on track for command assignments. The problem was that Navy regulations prohibited her from going to sea - but those same regulations stated an officer had to go to sea in order to command a shore unit.
In order to get the law repealed, it would have to be done through Congress. The ladies tried and could not make it work so the next step was to sue the U.S. Government. They hired a civilian attorney and a year later they WON the landmark civil rights case! The judge ruled that the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 was indeed unconstitutional.
But that wasn’t the first time our local Navy Captain was a trailblazer. You see, there was the one time when she was on the cover of Time Magazine when she (and 11 other women) were named the Person of the Year! Yes, she was front and center with Billie Jean King and Betty Ford in 1976.
Kathy
After being on the cover of Time Magazine and taking the Secretary of Defense to court, where do you go from there? Ironically, years later she was asked to help with a study of the status of Navy women. The study looked at career opportunities for Navy women and as a result opened 9,000 sea duty assignments on 24 ships – but more importantly, gave women an opportunity for command at sea! The study led to the creation of a women’s policy office that Captain Bruyere would go on to run as well as become the Commanding Officer of the Navy Recruit Training Command in Orlando, Florida. Under her command the Navy studied integrating men and women together for boot camp training and today, the Navy has a co-ed boot camp.
When asked what she is most proud about in her distinguished Naval career, she said, “to make a difference and help to open equal opportunities for all.”
She enjoys looking back to see how far we’ve come and says, “there is nothing today’s women cannot do – we need them to keep charging ahead.”
In the 28 years of service to our county, Captain Bruyere epitomized the Navy’s core values of Honor, Courage and Commitment.
We salute this trailblazer for opening the doors of tomorrow!
Kathy Bruyere
U.S. Navy Captain Retired February 5, 1944 - September 3, 2020
