Ex-Marine wants to start area chapter of Women’s Marine group

Ex-Marine wants to start area chapter of Women’s Marine group
By CHERYL R. CLARKE cclarke@sungazette.com

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.
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