Remember our Women Veterans

Tomorrow morning, March 13, 2010 at 11:00 friends of Florence Elizabeth "Betty" Brandon will gather at Bryant Funeral Home in Alliance to say good bye to a wonderful woman, one of a dwindling number of veterans of World War II.

I can't improve on the obituary of Betty that Melinda Penkava posted on Town Dock. I would like, however, to put her service in the United States Marine Corps in a larger perspective.

Women served as doctors in the Civil War and as nurses in many of our wars. But it wasn't until the United States entered World War I in 1917 that women were accepted into the uniformed services in significant numbers. 11,000 women volunteered for service during that war, almost all of them in the Navy and Marine Corps.

This was brought about by President Wilson's Secretary of the Navy, North Carolina newspaper editor and publisher Josephus Daniels.

Secretary Daniels sought authority to enlist women to serve in shore billets so the men could be sent to sea. Eventually, he decided he already had the authority and just did it. The newly-recruited women were categorized as "Yeoman (F)" and most were assigned to clerical duties. He did the same thing for the other service under his authority, the US Marine Corps. The women were colloquially called "Yeomanettes."

One of the early recruits, Frieda Mae Hardin, a 22- year old department store clerk in Portsmouth, Ohio, later described her experience: "I heard about the Navy taking women on a Saturday night, and I signed up first thing Monday morning," Mrs. Hardin said in 1997. "I wanted to do something more, something bigger and better."

Another woman who served in the navy in World War I was Mrs. Lena S. Higbee, Superintendent of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. She was awarded the Navy Cross for her work. I once served on a WWII vintage Gearing Class destroyer named in her honor.

When the war ended, the women were released and went back to civilian life.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, it seemed natural to reestablish the enlistment of women for the war effort, though not everyone agreed. Women were needed in defense industry as well.

Despite the opposition, the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve was established in February, 1943. About 20,000 women joined the Marine Corps during WWII. They made a substantial contribution. By the end of the war, for example, 85% of enlisted personnel assigned to Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps were women.

In the field, women served in some 200 different enlisted specialties, from aerial gunnery instructor to quartermaster, including radio operator, parachute rigger, control tower operator, cryptographer, auto mechanic and telegraph operator.

Our Betty was a quartermaster.

Let's join together to honor her service and that of those who followed in her footsteps.

Today women serve in 93 percent of all Marine Corps occupational specialties and serve in more than 60 percent of all billets. Women count for more than six percent of the Marine Corps and are an integral part of the force.