Between the Covers

Unbound. An archive of 16 disbound pages, each measuring 12” x 10”, containing 28 photographs, news clippings, and other ephemera. Pages are good only with chips and tears with very good or better contents. Ruth M. Sullivan was 26 when she left her job as an executive secretary to become one of the first women to enlist in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve on March 4, 1943. She reported to the U.S. Naval Training School at Hunter College in the Bronx where the curriculum had been modified and Marine drill instructors added. Training included drill, physical training, map reading, defense against air attack, aircraft identification, etc. Sullivan performed well; after a short time, she was promoted to Technical Sergeant and sent to the Marine Corps First Sergeant School at the Philadelphia Naval Yard’s Marine Barracks, where she completed one of its first (if not the first) co-educational courses. During her World War II service, Sullivan served at the Marine Corps Procurement Office in Des Moines, Iowa and as the First Sergeant of Marine Operational Training Squadron 81 at the Cherry Point Air Station in North Carolina.

Sullivan's scrapbook includes magazine and newspaper clippings documenting her military service. One magazine article reads, “First Girl Joins the Marines,” and includes a photo of Sullivan. Other clippings read, “Top Kick,” “We Bow Once More to the Marines," and “Women Marines are Here.” She also collected photographs of herself and fellow Marine women in uniform. Other assorted items include two certificates for marksmanship, a clipping announcing she placed 7th out of 14 competitors in a rifle and pistol competition in Des Moines, a lengthy illustrated article about the co-educational First Sergeants Course, and a portrait photograph of Sullivan in an American Legion uniform from the late 1960s.

An excellent firsthand visual record of one of the first Women Marines to serve in World War II.

Item #422939