Groundbreaking Marines
Articles about pioneering Marines who made Marine Corps history.
Title | Author | Edition | Summary |
World War II and the Origins of Diversity | Owen L. Conner and Charles Grow | Leatherneck February 2012 | Among the many inspirational stories clearly told by the National Museum of the Marine Corps is of diversity in the Corps. |
Montford Point Marines: Honoring and Preserving Their Legacy | Coral Anika Theill | Leatherneck February 2011 | The story of the Corps’ first African American Marines and how they are being honored today. |
Breaking Barriers Interview with a Montford Point Marine | Kwame Gyamfi | Leatherneck February 2020 | An interview with Sgt Primus Kinlaw, USMC (Ret), one of the original Montford Point Marines. |
A Woman’s Place Is In The Ranks Part 1 | Guy Anselmo | Leatherneck February 1987 | Thousands of women joined the Corps during World War II in order to “Free a Man to Fight.” |
A Woman’s Place Is In The Ranks! Part II | Guy Anselmo | Leatherneck March 1987 | The conclusion to the story of female Marines in World War II. |
21st Anniversary | SSgt Joan Ambrose | Leatherneck February 1964 | The Women Marines celebrate the 21st anniversary of the first women to enter the Marine Corps. |
Women in Combat Arms Units | SgtMaj David K. Devaney | Gazette June 2012 | We’re not culturally ready. |
Women in Combat | Maj Amy “Krusty” McGrath | Gazette November 2012 | The bogus old arguments rise again (a rebuttal). |
Why Women Do Not Belong in the U.S. Infantry | Capt Lauren F. Serrano | Gazette September 2014 | Marine infantry isn’t broken, it doesn’t have to be “fixed” |
Outside Our Lane | LtCol Maria Pallotta | Gazette January 2015 | Bold and daring women do belong in all combat arms. A Rebuttal to “Why Women Do Not Belong in the U.S. Infantry.” |
Why Women DO Belong in the U.S. Infantry | Capt Eric Hovey | Gazette February 2015 | What the U.S. wants is what the USMC needs. |
Women in Combat: A View From the Top | MajGen Gene A. Deegan | Gazette September 1992 | An extract from Gen Deegan’s statement to the President’s Commission on Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces on 25 June 1992 and from remarks made to his staff and subordinate commanders at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island. |
Voices of Our Ancestors: The Navajo Code Talkers’ Story | LCpl William Waterstreet | Leatherneck October 2012 | Navajo Code Talkers visit MCAS Yuma, Ariz., to key handsets one more time for today’s leathernecks. |
Navajo Yil-tas Ha-neh-al-enji | Tom Bartlett | Leatherneck June 1980 | A small group of Navajos served as Marine communicators during WWII. Their effectiveness prompted one Marine officer to state: “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.” |
Indian War Call | Vernon Langille | Leatherneck March 1948 | The “hidden” language of the Navajos provided the Marine Corps with a foolproof code to foul up the Japanese. |
Navajo Code Talkers | MTSgt Murrey Marder | Gazette September 1945 | For three years their strange language served the Marine Corps well for transmitting secret radio and telephone messages in combat. |
The Unbreakable Code | Isabel Simmons | Gazette | The Navajo code talkers created a “code no enemy can decipher” during World War II. |
“Gray Eagle” LtGen Petersen Earns New Title | SSgt T.L. Dunn | Leatherneck November 1987 | In 1987, LtGen Frank E. Petersen became the senior ranking aviator in the Department of the Navy. |
The “Godfather” Gets A Star | Tom Bartlett | Leatherneck May 1979 | The “Godfather” Frank E. Petersen, Jr. became the first black Marine selected to receive a star in the Marine Corps. |
Onto Richmond | Frank H. Rentfrow | Leatherneck January 1939 | How Cpl John Mackie became the first Marine to earn the Medal of Honor. |
Giants of the Corps: John Mackie | Larry James | Leatherneck | The Legacy of John Mackie, the first Marine Medal of Honor recipient. |
SgtMaj Edward R. Huff: Paving The Way | Tom Bartlett | Leatherneck February 1990 | SgtMaj Edward R. Huff was the first African-American in the USMC to be promoted to the rank of Sergeant Major. |