United States. Marine Corps Women's Reserve

United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve (Reserve) was the World War II women's branch of the United States Marine Corps Reserve. It was authorized by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 30 July 1942. Its purpose was to release officers and men for combat, and to replace them with women in U.S. shore stations for the duration of the war plus six months. Ruth Cheney Streeter was appointed the first director. The Reserve did not have an official nickname as did the other World War II women's military services.

Young women were keen on serving in the military during WWII, and the Marine Corps desired only the best. The standards set for women who wished to volunteer for the Reserve were demanding. However, the Reserve did not accept African American or Japanese American women during World War II, but they did accept Native American women. The officer candidates first trained at the Navy's Midshipmen School for women officers at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. The initial training site for the enlisted women was at the Naval Training School at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York City. In due course, the Marine Corps discovered the advantages of having its own training centers. So on 1 July 1943, all Reserve training was shifted to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The members served at shore and air stations across the continental United States. The incorporated territory of Hawaii was the only overseas duty station where members were assigned. They served in occupations classified as professional, semi-professional, clerical, skilled trades, services, and sales. The peak strength of the Reserve was about 19,000. With the end of World War II in sight, the corps began to demobilize the members. By December 1945, the Reserve was down to 12,300, and by August 1946 it had about 300 members.

Early on, the male members of the Marine Corps subjected the women to a degree of resentment and crude language. The women overcame these indignities with their accomplishments in the workplace and the poise with which they performed. In time, most of their detractors became their supporters. For her stewardship of the Reserve, the Marine Corps presented Ruth Cheney Streeter with the Legion of Merit. On the occasion of the first anniversary of its establishment, the Reserve received a message from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he observed, "You have quickly and efficiently taken over scores of different kinds of duties that not long ago were considered strictly masculine assignments, and in doing so, you have freed a large number of well trained, battle ready men of the corps for action." Initially, General Thomas Holcomb, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, had been opposed to having women serve in the Marine Corps. Before the end of 1943, however, he reversed himself, saying, "Like most Marines, when the matter first came up I didn't believe women could serve any useful purpose in the Marine Corps ... Since then I've changed my mind."[1] The Marine Corps delayed formation of the Reserve until 13 February 1943.[2] It was the last service branch to accept women into its ranks, and there was considerable unhappiness about making the Marine Corps anything but a club for white men. Ruth Cheney Streeter was named the first director of the Reserve; commissioned a major and sworn in by the Secretary of the Navy on 29 January 1943.[7] A year later, Streeter was promoted to colonel.[8] She was not the first woman to see active duty in the Marine Corps during World War II. Weeks earlier, Mrs. Anne A. Lentz, a civilian clothing expert who had helped design the Reserve uniforms, was commissioned a captain. Lentz came to the corps on a 30-day assignment from the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and stayed on.[7] The qualifications for women who wished to become members of the Reserve were stringent. The eligibility requirements for officer candidates and enlisted women were similar: United States citizenship; not married to a marine; either single or married but with no children under 18; height not less than 60 in (150 cm); weight not less than 95 lb (43 kg); good vision and good teeth. For enlisted members, the age limits were from 20 to 35, and an applicant was required to have at least two years' of high school. For officer candidates, the age limits were from 20 to 49, and they had to either be a college graduate, or have a combination of two years' of college and two years' of work experience. Later, the wives of enlisted Marines were allowed to join, and enlisted women could marry after boot camp.[13] The Reserve officer candidates trained at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, a branch of the Navy’s Midshipmen’s School for women officers at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Shortly after the first officer class reported to Mount Holyoke College, enlisted women of the Reserve were ordered to the US Naval Training School at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York City. The Marine Corps opened its own schools for officer candidates and recruit training at Camp Lejeune in July 1943, under the command of Colonel John M. Arthur. Officer candidates and recruits in training at Navy facilities were transferred to Camp Lejeune, where over 15,000 women became Marines during the remainder of World War II. At the end of the war, the task of demobilization fell to Colonel Katherine A. Towle, the second director of the Reserve.[50] In December 1945, the Reserve was down to about 12,300 members, with expectations of reducing this number by 2,000 each month thereafter.[19] The demobilization plan called for mandatory resignation or discharge of all Reserve members by 1 September 1946.[50] Separation centers were set up at San Diego, San Francisco, El Toro, Parris Island, and Lejeune.[19] In early 1946, there was speculation that legislation to give women permanent status in the military was being considered, which prompted the Marine Corps to relax its demobilization policy. Then on 15 June 1946, the wartime office of the Reserve was closed when Colonel Towle returned to work at the University of California. The outgoing director proposed that Julia E. Hamblet replace her.[51] Three months later, Hamblet was appointed as the third and final director of the wartime Reserve.[19] When August 1946 came around, some 300 women had been asked by the Marine Corps to stay on, even as the last of the Reserve's barracks was being closed.[52] For the next two years, these women served the Marine Corps in an undetermined status. But on 30 July 1948, the Women's Armed Services Act (Public Law 625) was signed into law, which allowed these and other women to serve in the regular Marine Corps.[19]