History Of The Day - Opha Mae Johnson Becomes First Woman to Enlist in the US Marine Corps (1918)

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During WWI, the US Secretary of the Navy decided to allow women to join the Marine Corps Reserve so that they could take over clerical duties being performed at the time by battle-ready Marines who were needed overseas. Johnson, who was 18 at the time, was the first woman to enlist. It would be another 25 years before the Marines began letting women fill non-clerical positions like parachute rigger, mechanic, and cryptographer. When were female Marines finally allowed to serve in active combat? Discuss



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