Marine Corps Women's Reserve, U.S
Marine Corps Women's Reserve, U.S.The Marine Corps Women's Reserve (MCWR) was authorized by Congress in July 1942 to relieve male Marines for combat duty in World War II. However, Maj. Gen. Comm. Thomas Holcomb delayed until October, when mounting losses, an order to add 164,273 Marines, and a plan to include draftees (viewed as a threat to the Corps' elite volunteer image) forced him to consider joining the other services in accepting women in uniform.
In January 1943, the MCWR swore in its first director, Maj. Ruth Cheney Streeter, forty‐seven, wife of an attorney and mother of four. The MCWR officially began on 13 February 1943. In March, the first 71 officer candidates arrived at the U.S. Midshipmen School at Mount Holyoke College; 722 enlisted women entered boot camp at Hunter College in New York City.
Although the public wanted an acronym like the WACs and WAVES, the commandant refused any...
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