Some key women in the history of the U. S. Marine Corps

Pvt. Opha Mae Johnson was the first woman to enlist in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1918

Captain Anne Lentz became the first female commissioned officer in 1943

Directors of Women Marines

1943-1945 Col Ruth Cheney Streeter, 1st Director of Women's Reserves

1945-1946 Col Katherine Towle, 2nd Director of Women's Reserves

1948-1953 Col Katherine Towle, 1^st Director of Women Marines

1946-1948 Col Julia Hamblet, 3^rd and last Director of Women's Reserves

1953-1959 Col Julia Hamblet, 2^nd Director of Women Marines

1959-1964 Col Margaret Henderson, 3rd Director of Women Marines

1964-1969 Col Barbara Bishop, 4th Director of Women Marines

1969-1973 Col Jeanette Sustad, 5th Director of Women Marines

1973-1977 BrigGen Margaret Brewer, 6th and last Director of Women Marines

Brigadier General Brewer served as Director of Women Marines in the rank of colonel. She was promoted to brigadier general (the first female general officer in the Marine Corps in 1978 while serving as Director of the Division of Information at Headquarters Marine Corps.

Lieutenant General Carol A. Mutter became the first female in the Marine Corps to wear three stars (and only the second female in the U. S. military) in 1996.