Opha Mae Johnson

was a hardcharger

Opha Mae Johnson
Opha Mae Johnson
Born	February 13, 1900
Died	January 1975
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	Enlisted 1918
Rank	Private
Unit	Marine Corps Reserve

Opha Mae Johnson (February 13, 1900 – January 1976) was the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. She joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1918.

Military service

Johnson was a United States Marine in the late 1910s. She became the first woman to enlist in the Marine Corps on August 13, 1918, when she joined the Marine Corps Reserve during World War I. Johnson was the first of 305 women to enlist in the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve that day.^[1]

Enlistment came half a century after Susan B. Anthony championed women's rights, and some twenty years after Alice Paul fought for the same cause. Johnson was seen as another combatant in the nations recent women's rights movement.

When she became a Marine, she was given a category of "F" (for female). Johnson was a receipient of the National Defense Service medal. In those days women were allowed to enlist but were not allowed to serve in war zones. Opha Mae Johnson may have worked as a secretary, cook, but not a military nurse (the Marine Corps doesn't have any sort of medic MOS, that is carried out by the Navy), or other jobs the first Marine women were allowed to perform, while her male counterparts were being sent to fight in France.

It would not be until the 1940s that female Marines were allowed to serve in a war zone.

See also

	Biography portal
	United States Marine Corps portal

• List of Historically Important U.S. Marines

References

1. ^ "Women in the Marine Corps". History Division, United States Marine Corps. July 2006. http://www.tecom.usmc.mil/HD/Frequently_Requested/Women.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-30. 

• "History of the Women Marines". Women Marines Association. http://www.womenmarines.org/history.php. 
• Muth, Rose A. (March 12, 2004). "Women Marines celebrate 61 years of service". Okinawa Marine (Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan: United States Marine Corps). Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20070310233908/http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public+Affairs+Info/Archive+News+Pages/2004/040312-ball.html. 

Persondata
Name	Johnson, Opha Mae
Alternative names
Short description	First woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps
Date of birth	February 13, 1900
Place of birth
Date of death	January 1976
Place of death