IV 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 105 
Commemorating the 100th anniversary of women serving in the United States 
Marine Corps. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 6, 2018 
Mr. ISSA (for himself and Mrs. DINGELL) submitted the following concurrent 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Commemorating the 100th anniversary of women serving 
in the United States Marine Corps. 
Whereas the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, used 
the Naval Reserve Act of 1916, which allowed for the en-
listment of ‘‘qualified persons’’, to enlist women; 
Whereas, although women did not officially serve in the 
United States Marine Corps until 1918, many women 
have answered the call of duty from their country, serv-
ing with honor and distinction for decades prior, to in-
clude the legendary Lucy Brewer during the War of 
1812; 
Whereas, before she had the right to vote, Private Opha May 
Johnson is officially credited as the first female Marine 
when she enlisted for service on August 13, 1918; 
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Whereas, during 1918, approximately three hundred women 
entered the Marine Corps to take over the stateside cler-
ical duties from the battle-ready Marines who were need-
ed overseas to fight in World War I; 
Whereas the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve was formed in 
February 1943; 
Whereas Captain Anne Lentz became the first female com-
missioned officer, Lucille Ellen McClarren became the 
first female enlisted Marine under the direction of Colo-
nel Ruth Cheney Streeter, the first Director of Women 
Marine Reservists; 
Whereas over twenty-three thousand women joined the Corps 
during World War II, performing over two hundred dif-
ferent assignments; 
Whereas, after each of the World Wars, all of the military 
branches began disenrolling the women who signed up to 
serve, and thus on June 12, 1948, Congress passed the 
Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, which 
integrated women as a permanent part of the regular 
United States Armed Forces the following January; 
Whereas the 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act 
authorized one hundred regular female Marine officers, 
ten warrant officers, and one thousand enlisted women in 
a gradual buildup over a two-year period, with candidates 
coming from Reserve women Marines still on active duty 
and those with prior service; 
Whereas female Marines trained at Hunter College and Camp 
Lejeune and on February 23, 1949, the 3d Recruit 
Training Battalion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris 
Island, South Carolina, was reactivated for training non- 
veteran female Marines—fifty female recruits formed the 
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first all-female platoon of Marines to take a six-week 
training course, led by Captain Margaret Henderson; 
Whereas although African Americans were given the oppor-
tunity to enlist in the Marine Corps in 1942, the Corps 
remained segregated until President Harry S. Truman 
issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948, to deseg-
regate the Armed Forces; 
Whereas, in January 1949, Annie E. Graham and Ann Es-
telle Lamb became the first African-American females to 
enlist in the Marine Corps; 
Whereas, in the summer of 1949, the first Women Officers 
Training Class was held at Marine Corps Base Quantico, 
Virginia, and the quota of seven Regular commissions 
were given upon completion of the class; 
Whereas, in addition to integrating women into the Regular 
Marine Corps, a strong women’s Reserve was also devel-
oped with the first Women’s Reserve platoon being acti-
vated on April 14, 1949; 
Whereas, within fifteen months, all thirteen Women’s Reserve 
platoons were mobilized in response to the Korean Crisis; 
Whereas, in April 1960, Master Gunnery Sergeant Geraldine 
M. Moran became the first female Marine promoted to 
the highest enlisted rank, E–9; 
Whereas, in 1967, President Johnson signed a law to repeal 
the limits on the number of women in the Armed Forces, 
and Master Sergeant Barbara Jean Dulinsky became the 
first of thirty-six female Marines to serve in a combat 
zone, when she was assigned to United States Military 
Assistance Command Vietnam combat operations center 
in Saigon; 
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Whereas, in the 1970s, the majority of billets were opened to 
women, including to attend the Drill Instructor Academy, 
and, in 1977, the first co-ed Basic School class com-
menced with 22 females; 
Whereas, in 1972, Master Sergeant Catherine G. Murray be-
came the first female Marine to retire from the Corps, 
serving honorably for nearly twenty years; she lived to be 
one hundred years old and passed away peacefully on De-
cember 20, 2017, and was laid to rest in Arlington Na-
tional Cemetery; 
Whereas, on May 11, 1978, Colonel Margaret A. Brewer was 
promoted to brigadier general, the first female general in 
the Corps’ history; 
Whereas, in 1993, Second Lieutenant Sarah Deal became the 
first female Marine accepted into naval aviation training; 
Whereas, in 1994, Brigadier General Carol Mutter became 
the first female Marine promoted to major general, and 
in 1996, she became the first female three-star officer 
across the military branches; 
Whereas the first group of women Marines completed inte-
grated Marine Combat Training Course at Camp Geiger, 
North Carolina, in 1997; 
Whereas First Lieutenant Vernice Armour became the first 
African-American female combat pilot in any military 
service branch, flying the AH–1W Super Cobra attack 
helicopter in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and serving two 
tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom; 
Whereas the first all-female Marine Team conducted its first 
mission in southern Afghanistan in 2009; 
Whereas Sergeant Major Angela Maness became the first fe-
male to assume the duties of the senior enlisted Marine 
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at Marine Barracks Washington, known as the ‘‘oldest 
post of the Corps’’, in 2013; 
Whereas the first 4 females graduated from the School of In-
fantry in January 2016, and, on September 25, 2017, 
the first female Marine graduated from the Infantry Offi-
cer Course since the course opened to women in 2012; 
and 
Whereas today female Marines make up 7.6 percent of the 
Corps’ strength, and serve in 82 percent of all Military 
Occupational Specialties: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) commemorates the service, dedication, and 
sacrifice of our female Marines and their families 
who have served in the United States Marine Corps; 
(2) commends all the brave female Marines who 
have served proudly with distinction and honor— 
each generation evolving but always maintaining the 
proud traditions of the Marine Corps; 
(3) notes that thirty-six female Marines served 
in Vietnam between 1967 and 1973, approximately 
one thousand female Marines deployed for Oper-
ations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990, and 
over fifteen thousand dedicated female Marines have 
served in combat in Afghanistan since 2001 and 
Iraq since 2003, including ten who have made the 
ultimate sacrifice and eighty-one who were injured; 
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(4) celebrates all current and future female Ma-
rines for their continued efforts to answer the coun-
try’s calling to serve; and 
(5) recognizes that all female Marines are, sim-
ply, Marines. 
Æ 
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