Good morning: Women Veterans Day marked in Millsboro

By Glenn Rolfe
Posted 6/16/21

MILLSBORO — Suburban Philadelphia resident Lauren Doyle served 15 years in the United States Air Force. She has a message for female high school graduates.

“I have a theory that I have …

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Good morning: Women Veterans Day marked in Millsboro

Posted

MILLSBORO — Suburban Philadelphia resident Lauren Doyle served 15 years in the United States Air Force. She has a message for female high school graduates.

“I have a theory that I have lived by forever: If you are not going to college, you have to do one year in the military. It will change your life. It will do the job your parents didn’t do – sorry,” said Ms. Doyle. “And chances are you will stay. It changed my life — in six weeks!”

Rehoboth Beach resident Karen Bernhard, who served six years with the Women’s Army Corps from 1957 to 1963, has similar sentiments on military service for women.

“I have a granddaughter that served, and a niece that served, in the current Army. And it is much more difficult now because they train with the men even through basic training,” said Ms. Bernhard.

“So, it’s a lot tougher. But it helps you kind of determine what you are going to do … and gives you three or four years of getting used to dealing with other people and discipline.”

Saturday, June 12 marked the fourth annual Women Veterans Day, first observed in 2018 to mark the 70th anniversary of the groundbreaking WAC legislation signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on June 12, 1948.

A special observance staged Saturday evening at Oak Orchard/Riverdale American Legion Post 28 in Millsboro united Ms. Bernhard, Ms. Doyle and Millsboro resident Malinda Malin for salutes and personal reflections.

A U.S. Army specialist E-4, Ms. Malin served from 2006-2014, primarily in Signal Communications. Her military career did not happen right after graduating from Sussex Tech High School.

“I tried to go in at the end of my senior year in high school, but I was only 17. My father would not sign the papers and said it would be the biggest mistake of my life,” said Ms. Malin, a member-at-large of Post 28.

So, it was off to college, a nursing degree and career start as a nurse. “In fact, I did not enlist until I was 26,” said Ms. Malin. “It is hard to explain. It was just something I felt I needed to do.”

Attaining the rank of sergeant E-5, Ms. Doyle served active and reserve from 1975 to 1990, both at home and abroad in Europe, including a stint at a Royal Air Force base in England. She was in aerospace ground equipment repair, providing auxiliary power to the aircraft.

Ms. Doyle got to work with F-15s at Langley Air Force Base which she calls her “pride and joy,” as well as the massive C-5s, C-141s and C-30s.

“I was stationed in Nellis (AFB) for a little while in Vegas, and our F-15s got to play with Thunderbirds a little bit,” Ms. Doyle said.

She worked in a shop with 75 men.

“I was the only woman,” said Ms. Doyle. “So, when I got out, the job was primarily men. But even if it wasn’t, there was a seven-year waiting list for that job.”

So, she went to work for a water company, installing meters.

“Then I just went into the restaurant business and actually kind of put my military career behind me. It was after Vietnam. We weren’t the proudest of the proud. My parents weren’t proud. They didn’t tell people,” said Ms. Doyle, who serves as sergeant at arms for Legion Post 28. “It was just the way it was. Until I came up here to Post 28, my military career was put on the shelf.”

Like the others, Ms. Malin said her military experience was good for her, and might be something other young women should consider.

“There’s a lot of discipline … a lot of respect. Integrity and honor became a lot more important to me,” said Ms. Malin. “I had more pride in myself.”

Ms. Bernhard values her WAC experience, in which she was trained as a physical therapy technician. “If I had to do it again, I would,” she said. “Mine was very good. At that time, the Women’s Army Corps, all the women were trained by females. The only men we saw were the trash men and MPs (military police) — for eight weeks.”

Ms. Bernhard has one lasting memory that stands out.

“I was born and raised in Washington State, and segregation was still going on in America. The military was integrated,” said Ms. Bernhard.

“When I got off the plane in Birmingham, Alabama I had to go to the restroom. When I came out of the stall there were two elderly Black women there, and one of them said to me, ‘Honey, you’re not from around here, are you?’ And I said, ‘No, ma’am, I am not.’ And she said, ‘This bathroom is for the coloreds.’ I wanted to cry. That somebody my grandmother’s age had to tell me, and had to put up with that.

“And for a few years, even the Black friends that I had, if we went downtown and wanted to go shopping, some of the stores they couldn’t go in with me,” Ms. Bernhard said.

“The only restaurants we could eat at was the bus stop or the train station. We couldn’t go to the movies (together); they would have to sit up in the balcony. And the young people today don’t realize that.”

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