The following is a brief history of women in the Marine Corps since they were first allowed to serve in 1918 at the end of WWI. 

*  1918 - Female "reservists" entered the Marine Corps as clerks to "Free a Marine to Fight".

*  1919 - All women ordered out of the Reserve Corps

*  1942, July 30th - Women's Reserve was established as part of the Marine Corps Reserve.  Women Marines were used so that men could be released for combat duty during WWII.  The first group of women officers were given direct commissions based on ability and civilian expertise.  They were given no formal schooling and were put on active duty immediately.  Women Marines were assigned to over 200 jobs including:  radio operator, photographer, parachute rigger, driver, Ariel gunnery instructor, cook, baker, quartermaster, control tower operator, motion picture operator, auto mechanic, telegraph operator, cryptographer, laundry operator, post exchange manager, stenographer, and agriculturist just to name a few.  

*  The first Director of the Marine Corps Women's Reserve was Mrs. Ruth Cheney Streeter.

*By the end of WWII 85% of enlisted personnel at Headquarters, Marine Corps in Washington, D.C. were women.  

*1946, June 7th - Commandant of the Marine Corps General Alexander A. Vandegrift authorized retention of a small group of women to remain on active duty.  

*  1946, Sept. 1st - Demobilization of the Marine Corps Women's Reserve (17,640 enlisted and 820 officers) was complete.

*  1946, July 1st - of the 20,000 women who joined the Marine Corps Women's Reserve only 1,000 remained in the Corps.

*  1948, June 12th - Congress passed legislation giving women regular military status and placed them on a par with their male counterparts.