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- 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." (en)
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