This isn't exactly what I was going to write about today. As is the case with many Americans, I have some veterans in the family - my uncle John was in the Army, and my nephew Brandon is planning to be a veteran at some point (I know, he just started his training - it will be a while yet). And I was going to write a little bit about that, but I was looking for some other pictures and found this one, taken I'm assuming at my aunt Marilyn's graduation (or whatever you call it) at Quantico. Look at the pride on my grandparents' faces! (And look at Mamaw's handbag - I have lust in my heart for that bag).
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| This was stamped on the back - I think that the picture was from 1961. |
I always thought it was just about the coolest thing that I had an aunt in the Marines. I mean, she had been in Japan - ooohhh... And yet she always seemed like a normal person to me.
Normal people, signing up to do extraordinary things. I'm not sure we can ever thank them enough!
I'll bet your uncle didn't give her any "lip", right? ;)
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My mom was a Marine, too. In fact, that is how she met my dad--when they were both Marines during WWII, but then she left the service and he didn't.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all who serve.
ReplyDeleteYour grandmother looks positively luminous!
ReplyDeletethis is fantastic!
ReplyDeleteYes, your grandmother was a stunner!
ReplyDeleteThese were powerful women for their day. My aunt was a WAC during WWII and served in the South Pacific. She survived the war and malaria. She was a special education teacher who achieved her Masters in Education in her mid 50s. What a powerhouse she was!
ReplyDeleteLove the handbag! I wonder how common it was for a woman to be in the Marines in those days? Seems like it must have been unusual.
ReplyDeleteThe answer to Steve's question is, simply, pretty rare! Like the Army, Marines had a Women's Auxiliary in WWII, which was mostly decommissioned after the war. But under Truman, the Armed Services were not only ordered to integrate, racially, but also to incorporate permanent utilization of women for certain areas of service. And so the military began recruiting and training women as part of ROTC programs, etc., which is the route Marilyn took, I think. Still, the Marines, as always, were highly selective, and so it would have been very uncommon to have a female Marine in the family!
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