HISTORY

World War I Era

1916

Lucy Brewer

black and white photo Lucy Brewer

Legend has it that Lucy, disguised as a man and enlisted under the name of George Baker – aboard the USS Constitution during the War of 1812.   

1916

1918

Private Opha Mae Johnson

The Marine Corps' first enlisted woman Marine.

1918

11 November 1918

End of the War

 

By the end of World War I, 305 women had enlisted in the Marine Corps, but all served less than a year. Following the Armistice on Nov. 11, 1918, the armed services immediately began discharging women from active-duty service. 

11 November 1918

1918

The Names Know

This Marine trio were early enlisters in the first Women’s Reserve that served during World War I. Mary Kelly (left) of New Jersey, May O’Keefe and Ruth Spike, of New York City, the youngest of 305 enlistees 

1918

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the deployment of young men overseas left thousands of stateside positions, most of them office jobs, unfilled.

The Marine Corps proudly considers itself the nation’s elite fighting force, with “first to fight” amphibious capabilities – was initially unenthusiastic about filling these positions with women.

On Aug. 8, 1918, close to the end of the war, the Marine Corps became the last of the branches to enroll women by creating the enlistment of Marine Reservists.

The first was Opha May Johnson, a 39-year-old typist already working at Marine Corps Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, who enlisted on Aug. 13, 1918. She was assigned as a clerk in the Office of the Quartermaster General, and by war’s end was the Marine Corps’ senior enlisted woman with the rank of sergeant.

 

Lucy Brewer is known to history only through a series of autobiographical pamphlets, published in 1815 and 1816 in New England, recounting the exploits of a Marine sharpshooter. Lucy, disguised as a man, enlisted under the name of George Baker aboard the USS Constitution during the War of 1812.

There’s no evidence that Lucy was a real person, but fictional or not, she’s celebrated as an embodiment of female Marines’ independence and fighting spirit. It wasn’t until more than a century later that the first woman officially wore the uniform of the United States Marine Corps.

Partial Alphabetical Roster of Women Enrolled in the Marine Corps During World War I - Scroll down to see names and pictures of those available.

ABELE, Caroline 0.

AHLUM, Frances C.

ALLEN, Susie

ANDREAS, Alfreda A.

ARNOLD, Jewell (Mrs. Craig Hansen)

ARNOLD, Judy

ARTHUR, Minnie

BAER, Ethel M.

BAILEY, Elsie M. (Mrs. Pinney)

BAKER, Emma L.

BALFOUR, Isabelle (Mrs. Morton) p8

BARKER, Alma

BARTLE, Maria (Marcia died in service)

BARTON, Edith D. p. 8

BEALE, Rose

BECK, Maryann K. p. 31

BECK, May

BELLINGER, Virginia (Mrs. Bogart)

BENNETT, Mae E.

BENSON, Mary (Mrs. Albert W. Eldred) 

BEPPLER, Elsie M. (Mrs. Schaeffner)

BERK, Alma (Mrs. Swope)

BERTRAM, Elizabeth 

BITTNER, Elva D.

BLISS, Mary Ann (Mrs. Kennedy)

BOND, Olive M. (Mrs. Miller)

BOONE, Irene (Mrs.)

BOWMAN, Ann

BOYD, Justina M.

BRESNAN, Mary (Mrs. Edward Duggan)

BROADWATER, Alice

BROWN, Anna (Mrs. T. Stanley Holland)

BROWN, Eleanor F.

BUCKLEY, Sarah (Mrs. Daniel)

BUDD, Graham

BURGESS, Eleanor

BURNS, Mae (Mrs. Walter Fisher)

BYRD, Norma (Mrs. Watson)

CANTER, Lillian E.

CAREY, Emily J. E (Date of Death 9/23/76)

CAYIA, Jennie

CHAMBERLAIN, Lavinia P. (Mrs. Roy Kinna)

CHANDLEY, Pearl (Mrs. Howard L. Oagley)

CHAPMAN, Mayr Lou (Mrs. Warren Clayson)

CLARK, Grace

CLARKE, Blanche D

CLAY, Mary

CLYNE, Rose M.

COLCLAZER, Alma (Mrs. Crosby)

COVERT, Marie (Mrs. Anders)

COWELL, Mildred A. (Mrs. Jones)

COXE, Elizabeth B. (Mrs. MacIntosh)

CROOP, Susan M.

CROSS, Helen M.

CUTTER, Lillian

DAOUD, Nahiba

DAVEY, Louise A. (Mrs. McLuckie) (DOD 3/10/78)

DAVIDSON, Eva (Mrs. William Rabill)

DAVIS, Sybil B. (Mrs. MacNamara)

DEUTERMAN, Louise (Mrs. Allison)

DEVEREAUX, Margaret M. (Mrs. Jeschke)

DICKERSON, Bessie R. (Mrs. Carl G. Carlson) 

DONAGHY, Clare M.

DOYLE, Mary B.

DRINKWATER, Charlotte M.

DUCKMAN

DUNN, Helen H. (Mrs.)

DUPONT, Helen C. (Mrs.) 

ELLYSON, Jennie (Mrs. Gus Creange)

ELLYSON, Samia (Mrs. Pope) 

ELSESSER, Caroline C.

ENGLISH, May

ERERLE, Carolyn

ERVIN, Lucy (Mrs. Winter) 

EVANS, Matilda M. (Mrs.) DOB 1/10/1897 DOD 1972 married Vader.

FALLON, Mary M.

FAUNCE, Elizabeth A.

FELL, Mary H.

FOLKS, Maybelle La Von (Mrs. Thad Taylor)

FOWLER, Beverly

FRANT?, Frieda (Mrs, T.C. Kelleher)

FRENCH, Agatha C.

GABY, Minette (Mrs. Benjamin Duckman) 

GAMAGE, Philena (Mrs. Reginald H. Beale)  (worked at HQMC until 1949 and the law department) (DOB 14 Sep 1887)

GARDINER, Marie A. (Mrs. Buttell)

GARDNER, May

GASKINS, Mabel E.

GERNSBACHER, Viola

GERTLER, Florence (Mrs. Albert Miller) 

GILL, Kathryn (Mrs. Harry J. Belden)

GRAHAM Frances C.

GRAHAM Ruth C. (Mrs. Ralph H. Crandall)

GRIFFITH, Virginia L.

GUNN, Elizabeth

HAINES, Ruth

HANSON, Genevive (Mrs. Arnold)

HARGIS, Mae E.

HART, Margaret (Mrs, Canby)

HASSON, Carol (Mrs. Miller)

HATSEL, Margaret A,

HAY, Mary (Mrs. Douglas)

MBA, Avadney (Mrs, Paul B. Cheney)

HELMES, Emma C.

ADTLER, Ethel Louise (Mrs, Norman D. Budge)

HODGKINS, Alice w.

HOPKINS, Leola A. (Mrs. Ernesto Beavers) 

HOYLE, Mary T.

HURLEY, Blanche

HUTCHINS, Irene (Mrs. D. A. Knight)

IRVINE, Blanche P.

JACOBSON, Myrtle (Mrs. H. W. Gunther)

JOHNSON, Elizabeth N.

JOHNSON, Opha M. (Mrs.)

JONASSEN, Ingrid

JONES, Norma (Mrs. Watson)

JONES, Sarah L.

KEARNEY, Jessie E. (Mrs. Arthur Perkins)

KELLER, Esther M.

KELLY, Mary C. (Mrs. Howard) 

KENNY, Carrie E. (Mrs. Thompson)  (Picture below)

KINNA, Lavina P. (Mrs. Chamberlin)

KIRKHAM, Ida G. (Mrs. Herbert F. Lawrence) 

KIRKHAM, Patsy (Mrs. Owen)

KIRKPATRICK, Pat

KRAUSS, Margaret C. Mrs. Noyes)

KUGAN, Janet C.

KURGAN, Wanda

LAKE, Theresa p.

LAMMERS, Sophia J.

LASALLE, Lillian R.

LAYCOCK, Fanny E. (Mrs. Karl Kadic)

LEE, Edna E.

(Mrs. Robert F. Freund)

LEIBRAND, Lela E. (Mrs. Rogers) 

LEWELLEN, Ethel (Mrs. J.B. Dennis)

LINGLE, Daisy (Mrs. Charles Myrtle)

LINKINS, Carrie

LOVELEY, Ethel R. (Mrs. Miloy)

LOWEN, Bertrude I. (Mrs. Toogood)

LYNCH, Maefaret

MABLEY, Mildred (Mrs. E. M. Donnelly)

MACIAS, Edith A. (Mrs. Vann) (Picture below)

MACIAS, Sara J. (Mrs. Brewer Stouffer) 

MADLAND, Helen (Mrs. Orra Armstrong)

MAHAN, Alice L.

MALONE May F.

MARCUS, Rose (Mrs. Benjamin Hurvitz)

MARINA, Maria (Mrs. G. R. Kerm)

MASSENGALE, Mabel

MCGOLDRICK, Margaret C.

MCMORRIS, Victoria M. (Mrs. Sheevers)

MIDDLETON, Marjorie

MILLER, Mildred A. (Mrs. Richard Romer)

MILLINGTON, Anna L.

MILLINGTON, Clara

MILLS, Gladys E.

MILLER, Olive Mae (Mrs. Michael)

MONTGOMERY, Edith c.

NORINA, Maria L. (Mrs. G. R. Kern)

WORRIS, Anna (Mrs. McGoldrick)

MORRISON, Maud s.

NUIR, Charlotte E. (Mrs. Martin)

MULL, Helen M. (Mrs. Miller)

MUSSER, Mabelle L. (Mrs. A. William Hall) 

NELSON, Elizabeth (Mrs. George I. Welk)

NEUMARK, Helen

NUBSON, Troy A.

O'KEEFE, May L. (Mrs. Hurley) 

OKEY, Ouida M. (Mrs. William J. Sharp)

OLSON, Alma E. (Mrs. Gaston Stickler)

O'MALLEY, Lillian C. (Mrs. John Daly)

OMAN, Alma J. (Mrs.)

O'NEILL, Helen G.

OWEN, Maybelle (Mrs.)

PATTERSON, May Lillian p. 11(Died in service)

PEZZULI, Helen

PIDGEON, Katherine N.

PINKSTON, Caroline A

PINNEY, Elsie

POWERS, Margaret L. 

PRIESS, Helen I.

PURVIS, Harriet R. (Mrs. Larsen)

QUINN, Doris B. (Mrs. Lemly)

REILLY, Mary (Mrs. Rasener) 

REINHARDT, Doris B.

REISS, Mae C.

RIENKENS, Charlotte S.

ROBINSON, Dorothy L.

ROEDER, Helen A.

ROTT, Lynn R.

ROSE

ROUMAGE, Jeanette C. (Mrs. Kelsy)

ROUNDTREE, Anna C.

RUDDER, Willie C.

RYAN, Anna N. (Reiss)

SANDS, Alice

SAWYER, Lillian M.

SAWYER Ray C.

SAYLOR, Myrtle R.

SCALES, Grace E. (Mrs. Tippett)

SCHLIGHT, Marie S. (Mrs. Kane)

SCHNADER, Madeline

SCHROEDER, Bessie L. (Mrs. Patchen)

SCHROEDER, Irene

SETTLE, Sarah G.

SHARKEY , Mary (Mrs. Joseph Short) 

SHAUGHNESSY, Margaret c.

SHBIDON, Anna A. (Mrs. Fulkerson)

SISSON, Mildred G.

SHOEMAKER, Elizabeth (Mrs. Robert Linscott) 

SLY, Ethel W.

SMITH, Bessie (Mrs P. Frederick Dryer)

SMITH, Dorothy F.

SMITH, Thea A.

SOCKRIDER, Elsie L.

SORENSEN, Mattie L.

SPIKE, Ruth A. (Mrs. Frank spike) 

STIMSON, Hazel L. (Mrs, Fitzgerald)

STREEKS, Emma L.

STRUM, Ruth W. (Mrs. Errett)

SWENSON, Enga A

THEK, Martrese (Mrs. Ferguson) (In WWII she was the officer in charge of the second largest group of women in the corps) Picture below

THOMAS, Gladys

(Mrs. W. L. Allen)

THOMPSON, Anna E.

THOMSPON, Carrie E. (Mrs. Kenny)

TITSWORTH, Charlotte (Mrs. Austin) 

TITUS, Daisy E. (Mrs. Spernoga)

TRACY, Ina C.

TODD, Elizabeth M.

TULLY, Irene (Mrs. Rothrock)

TYSON, Edith (Mrs. Tom Shepard)

VAN EDSINGNA, Jane (Mrs. Arthur Blakeney)

VAN WAGNER, Violet (Mrs. Jose Lopez)

WASHBURNE, Ethel

WATSON, Eunice C.

WEIDINGER, Florence (Mrs. MacAlister) 

WELLS, Jean C. (Mrs.)

WERNER, Lillian D.

WHEATLEY, Henrietta A.

WHITESIDES, Mabel H.

WIELAND, Clara L.

WILKINS, Florence G.

WILKINS, Louise B.

WILLIAMS, Mozelle M. (Mrs.)

WILSCHINSKI, Martha 

WITHERS, Margaret C.

WITTICOS, Margaret

WRIGHT, Minnie (Mrs. William Sayers) (has daughter)