WELLSBORO ? A former Marine wants to join with others to form a chapter of a Marines association here and has invited another former Marine from the Reading area to help her.
Naudette Baldwin, 60, who was in the Marine Corps from 1967 to 1970 in the midst of the Vietnam airlift, contacted Kathy VanGorder, liaison officer to the Pennsylvania Department of the Marine Corps League. VanGorder is a Wellsboro native and the daughter of Earl Russell.
The two women are planning a recruiting meeting Saturday at noon at the Babb?s Creek Inn in Morris.
Baldwin, a lance corporal, went through boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., and went to Aviation Supply School in Memphis, Tenn. She was stationed at El Toro Air Base, Santa Ana, Calif.
A life member of the Women Marines Association, Baldwin said she wants to belong to a local chapter so she can participate in national events.
In order to participate in any local group activities, she would have to go to New York state, something she doesn?t want to do.
Baldwin joined the military during an era when women were rare in the armed forces. But, she said she had no problems with any of the male officers or other Marines because, by the 1960s and ?70s, things had changed quite a bit.
?By the time I went through Parris Island, we were more or less accepted,? she said.
Baldwin was discharged in 1970 after serving her stint in aviation supply.
?If a mechanic came in for a part, I was there to supply it and had to order the parts needed, as well as help with keeping the inventory,? she said.
Her group was the last platoon that went through Parris Island before the basic training for women became the same as it is for men, Baldwin said.
?The ones right behind me had to go through the same basic training as the men,? she said. ?It was still tough, which is the reason I went in, plus Vietnam was just starting and I wanted to help with the war effort.?
VanGorder, 67, told a different story of how women were treated in the military.
She also was a lance corporal when she was on active duty in the 1950s and was discharged in 1960, spending two years with the Air Wing at Cherry Point.
Serving a decade earlier, things were much different for female Marines, she said.
?It was difficult at the time because we were not accepted by the men and by society in general,? she said.
Being married and then becoming pregnant while serving didn?t help, she added.
?That?s why I only had two years. It was an automatic discharge, though honorable, at the time,? she said.
VanGorder doesn?t regret her experience with the Marine Corps, though.
?The Marines made us tough and we endured,? she said.
Now, some 45 years later, times have changed through the efforts of earlier Marines ?to make sure we were accepted properly,? VanGorder said.
?Today the women do almost all the same jobs the men do. We have a chapter in Iraq for women stationed over there. While they are not necessarily placed in combat positions, they are in combat areas, because there is no front line over there,? she said.
?Our women Marines today are so magnificent, I am in awe of them,? she added.
Now, women serve as pilots and gunners, unheard of in VanGorder?s day.
?We have accepted that that is the way it was and glad it is not that way now,? she said.
She told of how a male commandant spoke at a convention in Kentucky last year she attended and he commented that in his earlier days of service he disrespected women as Marines.
?Over the years he has seen what we can do and he has a profound respect for us now and there is no one he?d rather serve beside,? she said.
VanGorder said she had planned to make the Marine Corps her career.
?I was so disappointed and especially because they didn?t allow me to participate in the reserves. I so wanted to serve my country and I wanted to do it well,? she said
?I thought if we join forces with the Marine Corps League, we could do a huge recruiting effort,? she said.
The Marine Corps League will be recruiting for both male and female honorably discharged Marines, she added.
?They are a group that meets for camaraderie and continuing service, working with veterans who are in the hospital or out, returning from war zones and helping the community in general, such as working hand-in-hand with the Marine Corps in their Toys for Tots program,? she said. ?They support the Scotland School for Orphans and children of veterans, a boarding school in the western part of the state.?
Van Gorder also is treasurer of the Pennsylvania 2 Liberty Belles Chapter of the Women Marines Association, as well as assistant Area 2 director, covering several states.
She assists with the Volunteer Agency of Veterans Service, a national organization working with hospitalized veterans.
A non-profit organization, the Women Marines Association is the only veterans association for and about female Marines.
The Women Marines Assn. was established in Denver, Colo., in 1960 to ensure that the history of female Marines would continue to be told and passed on to a new generation of Marines.
Aside from participating in charitable activities, members can renew old friendships, create new ones and attend a biennial convention.
Chapters and members across the nation work on community programs, supporting military men and woman and continuance of service. The association is a member of the Navy-Marine Corps Council and the National Marine Corps Council and maintains a liaison with Headquarters, Marine Corps.
Every two years, the association holds a national convention and personal development conference where members from far and wide gather for a week of educational classes, visiting with old friends, making new friends, attending banquets and business meetings and partaking in what the locale has to offer. Active-duty personnel attend classes that directly coincide with life in the Marine Corps.
MISSION STATEMENT:
? Preserve and promote the history and traditions of women Marines;
? Foster, encourage and perpetuate the spirit of comradeship among women in the Marine Corps;
? Promote the welfare of elderly, disabled and needy women Marines;
? To provide assistance to hospitalized veterans and members of the Armed Forces;
? Promote the civic and social welfare of the community;
? Sponsor or participate in patriotic activities, especially those that perpetuate the traditions and espirt de corps of the Marine Corps;
? Conduct programs for charitable and educational purposes.http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/509341.html?nav=5014
