Camp Pendleton's Women Marines

Camp Pendleton’s

WOMEN MARINES

by Faye Jonason, Director, Camp Pendleton History Museum Branch

It is said that WRs, or Women Marines, did much more than “Free a Man to Fight” in World War II. Volunteering to serve in positions as typists, clerks, bookkeepers, radar technicians, telephone operators and truck drivers, these women replaced nearly a combat division.

Following President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s dedication of Camp Joseph H. Pendleton, then the world’s largest Marine base, and its feverish construction, it was decided to relocate the contractor’s barracks and rebuild them to house the incoming Women Marine Reserves. Thirteen months after the base’s dedication, on October 26, 1943, the first contingent of 95 women Marines (2 officers and 93 enlisted Marines) arrived on Camp Pendleton. These women were just a part of the 23,000 Women Reservists who entered

Doris (Basile) Andrews, Stewart, and Sgt. Jean Deniston in front of 24 Area women’s barracks, Camp Pendleton, December 1943. (Photo from the Doris Andrews collection, Camp Pendleton Archives)

active duty during World War II.

A flag-raising ceremony was held in honor of the new arrivals, followed by a base-wide tour and the presentation of a pedigreed bulldog for their company mascot. The Women Reservists were established in wooden barracks in Camp Pico in the 24 Area, located near the former base headquarters close to the junction of the current Vandegrift Boulevard and Basilone Road. The barracks had been completed two months before with enough room to house 40 officers and 600 enlisted. A fence surrounded the barracks to discourage male Marines, and was locked nightly when liberty expired.

In 1944, the Oceanside Daily-Blade Tribune featured the Women Reserves in its base anniversary edition with an article entitled, “U. S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserves now are permanent and attractive additions to post personnel at Camp Pendleton”. Living conditions described “individual beds, plenty of baths, laundry and ironing equipment. Lounges are arranged on the first floor for entertainment and reception and the upper decks are used exclusively by women where they may lounge at ease, read and write.” It stated that a post-exchange was established for the Women Reserves with “genuine girdles, perfumes, candy, cigarettes, jewelry and many other items that please the feminine heart” available to them for purchase. The article further identified services as free movies, a beauty parlor and a recreation hall on the second floor of their post exchange for the women. Elizabeth Arden developed “Montezuma Red” lipstick and nail polish to be worn by Women Marines to match the cord on the women’s cover. The women were able to attend dances regularly and go on Sunday hikes.

The article stated that the women worked “to free male Marines for combat” by pitching “in nearly all phases of camp work” and said that mess halls were run by women, “and serve the best of food, prepared with that ‘woman’s touch’”. While Women Reservists primarily performed clerical duties in offices, many served as photographers, aviation mechanics, truck and jeep drivers, conducted weapons inventory and accounted for cold storage and other goods at the commissary.

It is interesting that the article noted the different uniforms the Women Reservists wore, stating that “truck drivers wear specially designed dungarees and field shoes with a regular man’s overseas cap,” and identified several permitted uniforms. It stated that “conventional greens or seersucker greens” were used for office and evening wear and continued that “officers’ overseas caps” were allowed the women within camp boundaries.

As more Women Reserves arrived, a battalion was

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organized. By 1945, more than 1,000 Women Reserves were stationed at Camp Pendleton. Working in 225 specialties in 16 out of 21 functional fields, Women Reserves constituted 85 percent of the enlisted personnel at Headquarters Marine Corps and one-half to two-thirds of the permanent personnel at all large Marine Corps posts and stations.

With the close of World War II, Camp Pendleton became a demobilization center for Marines. The Women Marines battalion, under command of Major Marna V. Brady, was processed and disbanded in May 1946. Of the 20,000 women who had joined the Marine Corps during World War II, only 1,000 remained in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve on 1 July 1946.

The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was passed by the United States Congress passed in June 1948. The law made women a permanent part of the regular Marine Corps, authorizing 100 regular Women Marine officers, 10 warrant officers, and 1,000 enlisted Marines. Boot camp for enlisted females was set up at Parris Island, South Carolina

with classes set up in Quantico, Virginia, for the training and indoctrination of women officers.

The Korean War brought the mobilization of the Women Marine Corps Reserves in 1950 and 2,787 women were called to active duty to various posts in the Corps. Captain Jeanette Sustad, Technical Sergeant Catherine G. Murray and Sergeant Beatrice M. Kent reported to Camp Pendleton on Aug. 8, 1950 to prepare billeting arrangements for women Marines who would soon be arriving to Camp Pendleton. The call attracted former women Marines like Corporal Anne Revak, who drove from her home in Fairbanks, Alaska, to Seattle in order to report within the continental United States; she was then sent to serve at Camp Pendleton. The incoming women were assigned to the same 24 Area barracks previously occupied by women Marines in World War II.

The call-up resulted in approximately 1,000 women, veterans and new recruits alike, assigned to extended Marine active duty to work in clerical, recruit, public information,

Maj. Gen Oliver P. Smith greets the first three women Marines to serve at Camp Pendleton since the end of World War II, Aug. 8, 1950. U.S. Marine Corps photo

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Women Marines receiving certificates of completion for the General Military Subjects course, Women Marine Division, Regimental Schools, Camp Pendleton, ca. 1960s. (Photo courtesy of the Camp Pendleton Archives)

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communications, photography, cartographic drafting, disbursing and motor transport fields. Training for the women took place at Parris Island.

Captain Sustad served as the Supervisor of Women Marines, Headquarters Company, Headquarters Battalion, Marine Barracks, Camp Pendleton. Eventually the Women Marines organization became WM Company, activated as an element of Service Battalion in June 1951. Captain Sustad was perhaps the first postwar Woman Marine to be assigned as adjutant at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

In 1953, the women Marines opened and operated the Green Hat Club in the 24 Area at Camp Pendleton. In the mid-1950s, the infamous chain-link fence which surrounded their barracks was unceremoniously torn down; Colonel Julia Hamblet, Director of Women Marines, had ordered the fence removed.

Even though exclusions were in place, a few women, perhaps veterans who were already trained, served in the utilities, weapons repair, supply, and security guard fields. There were two women Marines in radio repair in 1950, although the 16- week training did not reopen for women until March 1953. In the motor transport field, one woman Marine, Sergeant Theresa “Sue” Sousa, was on duty at Camp Pendleton; through her determination and persistence, she proved that she could handle a truck and jeep and became a driver. In the fall of 1952, women were assigned to the intensive fiveweek course at Motor Transport School (location?). By 1954, there were 111 women in the motor transport field (at Camp Pendleton?)

For women, Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) were focused on administration, personnel, supply, accounting and public information fields. Restrictions in place allowed the women very few opportunities to advance. In 1953, additional MOSs were assigned adding intelligence, disbursing, post exchange and special services to the opportunities afforded to women officers.

As the Korean War armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, it was evident that the women Marine program had undergone permanent change, but the urgency to implement new, as well as long-standing, requirements and regulations on behalf of women Marines subsided. Although women were limited by law to a ceiling of 2% of the authorized strength of the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps set a limit of 1%, which was not reached by 1964. Even though at times, women had been assigned to as many as 27 occupational fields, about half of the women served in the same few specialties: personnel administration, supply, communications, disbursing, data processing, post exchange

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and public information. Although seven aviation fields were identified as suitable for women officers, women were not assigned to aviation specialties until about 1960. Many of the positions available to women were those serving the women Marine program directly. During this time, basic training for women focused instruction on personal grooming and manners.

In April 1965, a Marine Corps Bulletin directed that action be taken on 75 of the Commandant’s approved recommendations, resulting in more than half of the proposals affecting women Marines becoming a matter of policy by mid-1965. Lt. Col. Jeanette Sustad was named to the new full-time post of Deputy Director of Women Marines. A broad range of fields with related training opened up to women including drafting, lithography, operational communications, communications maintenance, auditing, finance, aerology, air control and flight equipment. More overseas billets would now be offered to women.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Public Law 90-130 on Nov. 8, 1967. The law removed the 2% limit on women in military service and opened promotions to general and flag ranks for women officers. Lt. Col. Jenny Wrenn became first woman officer to be assigned to Command and Staff College when she received approval on Feb. 9, 1968. Pfc. Reginal T. Musser served with Camp Pendleton’s Tracked Vehicle Maintenance Unit as the first woman Marine tank mechanic.

In the fall of 1967, the mounting financial cost of the war in Vietnam led President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to order a major military construction freeze thus temporarily stopping construction projects

Women Marines from the 1st Marine Division Band deployed to Saudi Arabia ISO Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1990-1991). Photo courtesy of the Marine Corps Musicians Association)

1st Sgt. LaRue Ditmore, USMC (l) shakes hands with an unidentified Marine Corps captain in front of the Woman Marine Company, Headquarters Battalion, Camp Pendleton, undated. (Photo from the LaRue Ditmore collection, Camp Pendleton Archives)

aboard Base. Ten days later, the Navy reversed course and decided to go forward with its San Diego projects, deeming them crucial for support of the Vietnam War. In 1968, a $1.7 million bachelor officer quarters (BOQ) opened at Camp Del Mar, available to both unmarried men and women. The new facilities were designed to house 168 persons and featured 12 two-room suites for senior officers, 132 suites with a combination bedroom/living room, and 24 single rooms; all had private baths. In March 1969, Camp Pendleton’s women Marines moved to their new barracks in the 13 Area (Mainside) becoming the nation’s first permanent barracks for Women Marines.

Lt. Col. Mary Bane graduated from the high-level Armed Forces College but was limited to a branch-head assignment. She was ordered to an Assistant Chief of Staff position at Camp Pendleton where she served admirably. By her 1977 retirement, Colonel Bane had served two years as Head of the Separation and Retirement Branch at Headquarters (Marine Corps?).

In order to reduce the numbers of service women leaving military service, a policy of waivers of discharge for pregnancy was instituted by the Department of Defense in 1971. The Second District Court ruled in 1976 that the Marine Corps regulation requiring the discharge of a pregnant woman Marine violated the Fifth Amendment due process clause since it presumed that a pregnant uniformed woman was permanently unfit for duty. Between 1978 and 1980, the Pentagon worked to address the complaint that pregnant service women in civilian maternity attire “undermined morale.” This led to the adoption of military

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maternity uniforms.

At the height of the Vietnam War, about 2,700 Women Marines had served in stateside and overseas assignments. Until 1966, only 60 women Marines were permitted to serve overseas, and those were mostly stationed in Hawaii. From 1967 to 1973, eight women officers and 28 enlisted women Marines served in Vietnam at different times.

In 1972, Sergeants Major Bertha Billeb and William Billeb were the only sergeant major team in the Marine Corps; in 1969, she was the first woman Marine to be promoted to sergeant major. In 1973 she retired at MCB Camp Pendleton as the first woman Marine to complete 30 years’ continuous active duty service. Having previously temporarily promoted

Lance Cpl. Kirstin Rawlins stages her bags on the flight line at Al Asad, Iraq, July 31, before flying to Camp Korean Village, Iraq, to train with 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, and begin her 30-day security cycle in the Lioness Program. (U.S. Marine Corps photo)

to warrant officer, she requested and was granted placement on the retired list as a warrant officer.

On July 15, 1975, Gen. Louis Wilson, Commandant of the Marine Corps, approved the assignment of women to all occupational fields, except the infantry, artillery, armor, and pilot-aircrew. Women officers were completely integrated into the Basic School program in 1977. In 1978, Col. Margaret Brewer was nominated by President Carter as the first woman Marine General Officer.

Sgt. Maj. Major Eleanor Judge became Camp Pendleton’s first base woman Sergeant Major in 1980 and the first female to serve as a Sergeant Major for a Marine Corps Base. It would be 29 years later before Sgt. Maj. Ramona D. Cook became the second female to take that post and the last in that position (before the merger of Marine Corps Installations West and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton).

The Gulf War in 1990 and 1991 brought more than 1,000 women Marines from around the Corps to deploy to those conflicts. Military women performed a wide range of critical missions in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Marine women served in combat support and service support units ashore. A high number of women Marines search female Iraqi travelers at checkpoints as an act of respect for Iraqi cultural sensitivities. One U.S. Marine officer was quoted to say about the women, “They endured the same living conditions, duties and responsibilities… they performed professionally and without friction or special consideration.”

The National Defense Authorization Act for 1992 and 1993 repealed the limits on assigning women to aircraft flying combat missions. In the Persian Gulf, 2,200 women Marines were deployed. Their missions were not involving direct combat with the enemy. One woman Marine escaped injuries from a mine when driving her truck in Kuwait. Four Marine women were awarded the Combat Action Ribbon for having been engaged by and returned fire against bypassed Iraqi troops. But, as Representative Patricia Schroeder of Colorado stated, “We saw that the theater of operations had no strict combat zone that Scud missiles were not gender-specific – they could hit both sexes and, unfortunately, did.”

In 1992, Brig. Gen. Carol A. Mutter became the first woman to command a Fleet Marine Force unit at the flag level when she assumed command of the 3rd Force Service Support Group in Okinawa. Later, in 1994, she became the first woman Major General in the Marine Corps, and again in 1996, the first Marine of her gender to serve as Lieutenant General.

Ninety-three percent of all occupational fields and 62 percent of all positions were opened to women in 2006. Women accounted for 4.3 percent of all

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Marine officers and 5.1 percent of the active duty enlisted force in the Marine Corps.

The Pentagon’s 2011 report identified 203,000 women as 14.5% of the active United States active-duty forces. Of these, 14,000 women were serving in the Marine Corps.

In December 2015, the Secretary of Defense directed that all MOSs become gender neutral, paving the way for women to serve in any capacity within the Marine Corps. Recent numbers show women serve in 93 percent of all Marine occupational fields and in 62 percent of all billets or jobs. They comprise 7.11 percent of Marine Corps strength.

The women Marine who serve in Camp Pendleton-based units have long been trailblazers and have done much to change military culture and to completely immerse themselves in the Marine Corps. Women throughout the Corps are experiencing success in previously closed Marine job fields. June 2016 marked the graduation of the first two women field artillery officers. In April the same year, an officer succeeded in qualifying as the first woman to lead a tank platoon. Camp Pendleton received its first woman graduate with the infantry officer MOS in September 2017; one of the 88 graduates out of 130 to complete the demanding Marine Corps Infantry Officer Course. Of further significance, in March 2018, Camp Pendleton’s School of Infantry – West became the first male-female integrated Marine Combat Training Company on the West Coast.

Major General Oscar Peatross once stated in praise of women in the Marine Corps, “You have no obligation to serve in the military. You are not subject to the draft or to any other impetus to serve except your own patriotism and desire to serve your country and fellow man. You must be counted as the most patriotic among the citizens of our nation.”

U.S. Marine Pfc. Savana Anderson steps off the bus to the School of Infantry – West on Camp Pendleton, Calif., March 6, 2018. This marks the first male-female integrated Marine Combat Training company on the West Coast. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Pfc. Kerstin Roberts, USMC)

Sources: 1) 1944 reprint of the Oceanside Blade-Tribune Progress Edition, October 25, 1943 2) Article, Fences Come Tumbling Down, Laura Kaufman, Traditions Magazine, May-June 1996

3) Article, Female Marines Killed in Iraq by Suicide Bomber, ABC News, June 24, 2005

4) Article, Women’s Role in Combat: The War Resumes, Jon Nordheimer, New York Times, May 26, 1991

5) Article, Women of the Marine Corps, web site - www.usmcu.edu/content/women-marine-corps

6) Women Marines Association web site, www.womenmarines.org/ wm-history

7) Marine Corps History, March 1966, Marine Corps Educational Center, Quantico

8) A History of the Women Marines 1946-1977; by Col Mary V. Stremlow, 1986, History and Museums Division, Washington D.C.

9) Women in U.S. Military during Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Women in the U.S. Navy: Historic Documents, website, https://www.history.navy. mil/browse-by-topic/diversity/women-in-the-navy/during-desert-shielddesert-storm.html

10) The History Channel, Women in the Vietnam War, website, https:// www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/women-in-the-vietnam-war

11) Article, Pregnant in Uniform, Bethanee Bemis, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, September 26, 2011, blog, http:// americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2011/09/pregnant-in-uniform.html

12) The Few, The Proud, Women Marines in Harm’s Way, by Sara Sheldon, 2007, Praeger Security International

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