Women of American Legion Post 644, one of the few women’s posts in the country, talk about the challenges they faced in the military and in their return to society.
Jon Hughes, an Army veteran, is the retired head of the UC Journalism program who still teaches in the program.
By Jon Hughes
“I’m Darleen, Darleen Adkins. I was in your Intro to Journalism class a long time ago,” she said smiling and extending her right hand toward me.
“Yes, of course,” I replied, not recalling the name, but suddenly recognizing the face. “You’re a veteran,” I said, shaking her hand.
“You remembered,” she replied. Veterans remember each other. We share many experiences, although certainly not all.
“I’m post commander of Greater Cincinnati Women’s American Legion Post 644,” Darleen said.
“I belong to the American Legion,” I replied.
“Why don’t you join our Post?” she asked with an even bigger smile.
“Something to think about,” I said. (Full disclosure: I joined the Post and was initiated in December 2013.)
I’ve had many veterans in journalism classes at UC over the years. There was Hank, a Vietnam veteran who fought at Khe Sanh. He walked into my magazine writing class – literally; he was not enrolled. I asked Hank to stay and he produced the best piece of writing that year. The article was published. Never saw him again.
But after talking with Darleen I found it curious that I could not recall talking at length with another woman veteran since my days as a cub reporter. At that time I interviewed a female World War II veteran who was tough as nails. Wore over-the-elbow gloves, smoked a cigarette and swore like a sailor, all while pounding a first-generation Selectric typewriter. A Damon Runyon moment. Nobody messed with her.
The conversation with Darleen sparked my interest in women veterans and Cincinnati’s American Legion post for women, Post 644. Founded in 1946, it is one of three active women’s posts in the country.
I wondered how many women veterans there are today.
I found the answer in a 2011 report by the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics that refers to a survey (2009) finding that about 1.5 million veterans in the United States and Puerto Rico are women.
The report also notes the number of women who served during a time of military conflict and gives the casualty counts:
MILITARY CONFLICT #SERVED CASUALTIES
WWI 10,000+ 172
WWII 400,000 217+
Korean War 120,000 2
Vietnam Era 7,000 8
Persian Gulf War 41,000 15
Operation Enduring Freedom/
Operation Iraqi Freedom 200,000 141
Who are these women who served their country? Why did they choose to join the military? What did they experience and how did it affect their personal and professional lives? What issues concerning women veterans need to be addressed?
I charged students in a capstone Journalism Seminar at UC with the task of answering these and other questions. These advanced students spent many hours in about three months talking with women veterans from Post 644 (with a few exceptions), documenting their story, in their voice. The interviews and images in this series are the product of that project.
Mary McHugh (Sister Marguerite)
Branch/Rank: Navy, Third Class Petty Officer
Location/Time Serviced: Norfolk Virginia, 1944-46
Residence: Reading
Sister Marguerite
I was working as a beautician when I decided to join the Navy. My two brothers, Red and Patrick, were in, and the war was on. I thought if I got in that maybe we could get the war over, or at least get the Japanese part of the war over.
I left Cincinnati for Hunter College in the Bronx, N.Y, April 6, 1944, where more than 90,000 voluntary service women were trained during World War II. We were there for six weeks and then we went to Norfolk, Va., for basic training. They called it the hell hole of the South. They (tricked) the sailors, as many as they could. They were willing to take their money; they had no problem with that.
Basic training was nothing but Marching. March, march, march. We had to clean the barracks for about two weeks, and then they began training us to be gunnery instructors for the male Naval officers.
At first there were issues with the men respecting us. When they started shooting they thought they knew a lot more than they did. When a couple of them came back or didn’t comeback, I’d say ‘Well where’s this guy?’ They said ‘He didn’t make it.’ The Japanese fighter pilots came straight in, they didn’t care at all. That’s when they said they would be willing to be taught from women and we went from there.
After the war ended, I came back to Cincinnati and started working as a beautician again, but eventually became a telephone operator at AT&T.
I’d flirted with joining the Sisters of Mount Notre Dame for a while, my aunt was a sister. I finally joined in 1954. The discipline instilled by the Navy made my transition much smoother. We used to have to get up at 5 o’clock when a bell rang in the Navy. When I entered the convent it was almost the same experience. In the navy the bell rang at 5 o’clock and at the convent we had to be dressed and pressed and getting to the chapel by 6:30 a.m. The same discipline that was in the Navy is in the convent.
I originally joined the American Legion Post 644 because my cousin Ann McHue was a member. When I first came home I was in the legion, and I got out because they were down near Broadway Avenue, and it wasn’t too swift a place for women to be, so I stopped going there. But when Ann died, the commander asked me: ‘Would you be able to be the chaplain of our group?’
So beginning in 1980 I was the chaplain, then I was the second vice, then the first vice, and I was the commander for about nine or 10 years. One by one those ladies were just dying. I’m 91 (she turns 92 in November), so a lot of these people were much younger than I am. I’ve since stepped down as commander and reclaimed my original role as chaplain.
In 2012 I was inducted into Veterans Hall of Fame, after being nominated by my good friend and fellow Post 644 member Lyn Ashley, who passed away in 2013.
It’s been 70 years now, but I think I would do it all again, join the Navy. I was anxious once my two brothers talked about leaving. I guess we were all dumb. We didn’t pick up that mom was hurting that much. But I’ve enjoyed my time in the Navy.
– Interviewed by Joshua A. Miller
Georgia Dahlberg
Rank: Army, 2nd lieutenant
Location/Time Serviced: Verdun, France (1951-1953)
Residence: Williamstown, Ky.
Occupation: Retired structural engineer
Georgia Dahlberg
I guess I had a knack for engineering. My mother told me that when I was little I would beg her for a spoon so I could go out in the backyard and dig holes. I would make little cities. It used to drive my grandmother crazy.
I went into a four-year engineering program at Norwich University – the military college of New England – where I graduated as a commissioned officer of the United States Army. I had an obligation of two years of active duty, and a 12-year obligation in the Army reserves.
I got a piece of paper – I think it was signed by Cyrus Vance back in those days – granting me a commission in the U.S. Army because I had fulfilled my requirements.
If I had gone to MIT (where she was accepted) my life would be totally different. I wouldn’t even be here. I would be somewhere else. In college, they offer this eight-hour exam – the Fundamentals of Engineering exam – and it tests you on just about everything. You could bring all the books you wanted with you. Out of 16 people in our class, three of us passed, and I was fortunately one of them.
After four years of college, I didn’t really want to go back home. I had an opportunity to work as a junior civil engineer in California for the division of highways. That’s about as far as I could get away from my parents, so I jumped at that chance. I went out there, with my commission, knowing that sometime I was going to hear from the Army.
I was out there for nine months before I finally heard from the Army. I saw the words “secret” on the order and the word “France.” So I’m thinking to myself, maybe a parachute jump into France? Anyway I went off to officer’s basic and spent about three months there learning how to be an engineering officer.
They told me to report to some dock in New York City. I got on a big ship and sailed to Hanover, Germany, hopped on a train and went down to Verdun, France, and stayed there almost two years.
I was the repair and utilities officer for the post engineer. I walked into Engineering Control Point 883, and was handed an office. I was held accountable for keeping track of supplies in the warehouse and keeping track of orders.
I had no idea what I was doing. I had 35 French people working for me. Thank God I had some good people working for me, or I probably would have ended up in jail.
There are a lot of stories I could tell you about why I didn’t want to stay. But in the end, I saved all of my money and my leave time. I wanted to see Europe. After I was discharged, I spent the next four months traveling around anywhere I could go, and I had a ball. Then I came back home, and I started to pursue a career in real engineering.
After two years in the Army I had pretty much forgotten all of the engineering I had ever learned. And I came out of the Army a blank slate. It’s not a good thing, to be a blank slate.
I went around to different companies in Boston, asking them if they could teach me how to become a structural engineer in design. Finally I found one that said “Yes, we can do that.”
Women who came back from WWII started the post (Post 644) in 1946. The ambience in the male American Legion is really that of a drinking-and-smoking club. Most of the women didn’t want anything to do with that. So they started their own. At one time, there were apparently about 100 women’s posts just in Ohio, which I find incredible. As far as I know, we are now the only one in Ohio. The others have all gone away. I believe there are only six women’s posts in the country now.
– Interviewed by Kelsey Kennedy
Patricia Johnson
Branch/Rank: Army/Sergeant
Locations/Time Serviced: Fort McClellan, Ala., White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, Kaiserslautern, Germany (1974-1978)
Residence: Cincinnati (Greenhills)
Occupation: Paralegal and business administrator for Givaudan Flavors and Fragrances, Cincinnati
Patricia Johnson, now and 1975
Of all the noble reasons I could have joined the military, my main reason was to get away. I had just broken up with my boyfriend, and I thought joining the Army would be the best way to escape and forget about the guy and the heartbreak.
I didn’t really care what my parents thought. I made up my mind and went down and joined on my own.
After basic training, I met my first husband. We married while we were both in the military, and my first son was born while we were stationed in Germany. He had also served during the Vietnam War, and as we discovered later, he had suffered liver damage as a result of the Agent Orange chemical the U.S. military had used to kill vegetation and human lives in North Vietnam.
Two years after we were married he died of liver disease. He passed away while we were stationed in Germany and left me with a one-year-old son. I now felt it was just too much for me to stay beyond my three-year-commitment. So, I thought it best that I finish and get out and come home with my son.
That was the biggest mistake in my life because I regretted it so much afterwards. I wished I had just stayed and continued on because now I realize I could have done it.
The military family is so close-knit. From the moment you get in the service you are instantly part of a big family. Everyone watches out for everyone else. It can be a wonderful environment.
When I came home, the Vietnam War had been a very unpopular war. I was initially so excited because I had served in the Army, but I was met with nothing but resistance. I would go into job interviews, and they would say, “Yeah, OK, so what?” There was nothing positive about being a veteran at that time. So I went home, packed up my uniform in a box, and stuck it in my grandmother’s attic.
It wasn’t until I moved here to Cincinnati and got a postcard from the V.A. Hospital inviting me to a Women’s Health Day, sponsored by an All Women’s American Legion Post 644.
I was thrilled and happy to be around other women veterans, especially Vietnam veterans, to talk about our experiences and what we went through.
We, as a post, are very fortunate to be an all-women post. We are only one of a handful that still exist in the United States today; it may be less than seven or eight now.
While it’s still a good ol’ boys’ world in the American Legion posts, I have served as the first and second vice commander for the Hamilton County American Legion chapter. I have also served as an assistant pastor.
Being a woman veteran today is much different than what it was when I was in. We really never received the combat training that men got, and women, up until very recently, still didn’t get the same combat training that men got.
Now, we have all of these young military women in combat zones from the moment they land in Iraq or Afghanistan because there are no enemy lines like there were in World War II, Vietnam, Korea, or even Desert Storm.
Even if they are classified as support or are on retrieval duty, they are getting maimed and killed. And, for those who come back with traumatic injuries and PTSD, they aren’t getting the benefits and necessary treatment that the men get with their combat status.
Because of this situation, another Post 644 member, Lynn Ashley, and I got together and wrote a Resolution (10-1). It will ultimately give women the same combat training and status as men, especially in terrorist war zones where there are no clear enemy lines. The resolution has now passed through the local, district and state legislation.
This resolution means a great deal to the members of Post 644, and eventually it will to all American women veterans. We will not give up until it becomes law.
If there is only one other thing I ever accomplish, it will be this resolution.
– Interviewed by Melanie Titanic-Schefft
Sabrina Blake
Branch/Rank: United States Army, E-6 Staff Sgt.
Location/Time Serviced: Ft. Campbell, Ky. Active Duty (1985-89), Army Reserve (1989-99), Individual Ready Reserve (1999-2002)
Residence: Springdale, Ohio
Occupation: Accounting student at Cincinnati State (no longer a student due to cost/student loan debt.) Now in pharmaceutical sales
Sabrina Blake
I was a flight medic for a while, which was pretty cool. Kind of scary, though. Eight weeks of training, and then all of a sudden you’re put in active duty. Just being a regular medic for a year or two, and then all of a sudden, I’m in a flight unit. People’s lives are in your hands.
We transported a lot of pregnant women around. Car wrecks, a lot of car wrecks. Gunshots. Weapon mischarge. Heat stroke victims.
We had two Black Hawk helicopters collide. Seventeen dead soldiers, and we had to climb up the trees to retrieve the bodies. That stuff doesn’t leave you.
When I was a little girl growing up, most girls played with Barbies, and I liked playing with Barbies. But I liked playing with the boys in my neighborhood, too. We’d play Army. I think that’s where I fell in love with it.
Women weren’t even allowed to be in yet, unless you were a nurse or something. When I was 10, I told my mom I was going to grow up to be, in this order: a pig farmer, a soldier, a stockbroker and an attorney. I’ve done three of the four. The only one I’ve not done is go to law school.
I was working two full-time jobs and a part-time job in a really bad recession we had in the early ‘80s. I was trying to go to school at night, too. I just felt like I was wrecking my brain and my body. I was working for minimum wage, and decided that I had had enough.
So I decided that I wanted to go to school, and went to a bank to look into getting a student load. The banker said, “Well, honey, you can just go get pregnant and get on welfare.”
I said, “Well, honey, that’s a problem that would last for the rest of my life, wouldn’t it? I don’t want to bring a child into this world just so I can go to school.” He said, “Well, you could go into the military.” So I said, “You know what? You’re right. I can go into the military.” So I did.
When I called my mom from the military office’s processing station, she said, “Where are you?” I said, “Cincinnati.” “What are you doing?” “Filling out paperwork.” “For whom?” “The Army.” And just dead silence on the other end. She said, “You just made the biggest mistake of your life.” CLICK.
She was not happy that I did it, but after about a year in, she said, “That’s the best thing you could’ve ever done.”
Back then, even though women weren’t allowed in combat, we still trained for it. Actually, as a female, we weren’t assigned to an infantry unit, but I spent a lot of time with the infantry, which was kind of unusual being the only woman with like 400 men around you.
I loved men who didn’t think I belonged in the Army, especially being a PLDC (Primary Leadership Development Course) instructor. I could pick them out in a heartbeat. I would love it when I’d get them out in the woods and just run them up and down the hills.
I earned the respect. It’s not given to you. There are still a lot of issues, something I really don’t like to talk about, but the military still is attributed with sexual harassment. Most women, at least when I was in, experienced that. Sounds like it hasn’t changed much.
I personally think it gives a bad rap to the military. I mean, I had some issues with it, and it was usually from the older male non-commissioned officers. My colleagues, for the most part, my peers, they were OK. They even looked out for us and tried to protect us.
The overwhelming thing I learned was compassion. I didn’t have a lot of that going in. You learn from all kinds of people, because we truly are one great big melting pot when you’re living in the barracks. You realize that things aren’t so bad when you think you’ve got it bad.
I learned respect, and learned what I had as a citizen when I lost those rights. Persistence is another thing. No matter how bad things get, you get yourself in that mindset. I’m going to keep on plowing through, no matter how tired I am or how badly my body hates me.
I loved it, and sometimes hated it. It was a love-hate relationship. Some of the stuff doesn’t make sense.
What I’ve loved [about Post 644] is meeting these fascinating women to be around. I’ve learned a lot from them, and still learn a lot from them.
— Interviewed by Dakota Wright
Darleen Adkins
Branch/Rank Army, Sergeant E-6
Locations/Time Serviced: Iraq, Kuwait (2002-2005)
Residence: Cincinnati (Northside)
Occupation: Unit administrator, military reservist
At 35 years of age I really didn’t have a career. I hadn’t finished college, and I was moving back to Ohio to help my mother with my father, who was ill.
I had thought about the military several times over my life: at 18, then at 28 and at 35.
I had challenging jobs and life-changing experiences. I was a little concerned. I didn’t have a career, and my education was incomplete. I thought, I’m going to go into the military. Maybe it will just help me in different ways. So at 35 I’m heading off to basic training.
The phone rang, I answered it, and as the sergeant started to talk, I realized he was going to tell me I am deploying.
First you mobilize. So I went to Camp Atterbury (a training camp in Edinburgh, Ind.) for two and a half months. I was in Kuwait from February to June. I got switched into a new platoon and went into Iraq from June until Dec. 31, about seven months. I think I was back in Kuwait on New Year’s Eve.
Saddam had palaces that were used for the Americans and Allied Forces. We installed phones and computers in those buildings. We were commercializing those buildings because they could not bring civilians into a war area at that time. So that was our job, running the cable and phone lines.
We were required to do some escort services – not what you think. Let me define that a little better. Their escort service is when several soldiers escort Iraqis around base job sites. So they would be young men coming to do a variety of work, usually hands-on work, construction or cleaning up areas. And there were some Iraqi women who were working too, as translators.
My military experience has kept me off the streets. I’ve wanted to do well with the military and be challenged by it.
I still am glad that I’ve done it. I still enjoy the camaraderie I find with soldiers, different ages, and different genders. I’m enlisted. There are officers, and so I like the interaction of that, too. That is part of my personality. I want adventure. I want different experiences.
I like being kind of a trailblazer, if that’s the right word. You know, “Hey I did it, I went into the military. I went in at 35, too, and I survived it.” And here I am 47 and still in the military 12 and a half years later.
— Interviewed by Hunter Moore
Katie Herbert
Branch/Rank: Ohio Air National Guard, Major
Location/Time Served: Iraq and Qatar, 13 years, (2005, 2006 and 2009)
Residence: California
Occupation: Air battle manager
Katie Herbert
I come from a military family. My dad was in the Navy, my grandfather was in the Air Force, my other grandfather was in the Army, and my grandmother was a WAC (Women’s Army Corp.). So growing up, and moving around with my dad, joining the military just seemed like the natural thing to do.
I ended up doing four years of Air Force ROTC in college at Ohio State. Then after college, my first duty station was in Panama City, Fla., at Tyndall Air Force Base.
I actually chose my job because it looked cool – I was going to fly on an airplane. After training, I was asked to be an instructor and teach people coming in. So I spent three and a half years at Tyndall.
Then I was stationed at Warner Robbins Air Force Base in Warner Robbins, Ga., with the JSTARS, which is the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System. I became an air battle manager. I was basically an air traffic controller in the air. We put bombs on target, we directed planes to troops and contact, and I talked to military aircraft for air support.
My first deployment was in 2005 in Qatar, and I was excited. I was ready to go. I felt like it was my time. I very much enjoyed it. I learned a lot and met some cool people.
My second deployment was in 2006. I was on a plane, so we flew in and out of country, a couple missions in Afghanistan. So, we were up 15 to 20 hours on the aircraft.
I did three deployments with JSTARS, returned to Ohio and ended up with a full-time job here at the 123rd in Blue Ash as an air control squadron. I do the same thing I did deployment, except for now instead of being in the air I’m on the ground.
My last deployment was in 2009 in Afghanistan. It was the hardest, most intense, but also the most rewarding. We were responsible for the overall air space and I was the head operator in charge of a crew of 22.
It was challenging trying to remain calm when guys would call and tell me they were getting shot at and needed air cover, like right now.
We were at Balad Air Force Base, north of Baghdad, and being in Iraq was really different because we were getting shelled at every night. The other three deployments were really fun.
I’m married military now, and we’ve both experienced some PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). I definitely experienced some of it during that 2009 deployment. When you’re in charge, you can’t show any weakness, but I would go home in my hooch and break down.
Plus when you come back home, it’s hard to adjust back to society.
My brother-in-law from my first marriage was a convoy driver in 2003 at 19 years old. That year was pretty bad, so he had severe PTSD – nightmares, problems with alcohol. The VA just numbed him out and pumped him with drugs.
Having some PTSD myself, and the severe case with him, has made me want to go the route of the more holistic approach (of addressing PTSD) with yoga, which the VA has started to take on now. It’s more of the breathing and relaxation part of yoga, which helps people with PTSD get out of their own mind.
I finished at Cincinnati State and World Peace Yoga in Clifton in April with my certification in yoga. I just felt like that was my way to give back. Soon I will also have a certification in Mindful Yoga for Veterans.
My only struggles in the military were being in a male-dominated career field where I needed to prove myself. You almost have to become a guy to be a part of their culture. It’s tough, and I feel like you lose yourself in the process. Overall though, I’ve had a positive experience. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, and I would absolutely do it all over again. I’ve made some great friends and seen things others haven’t. I wouldn’t change it at all.
– Interviewed by Amanda Franken