Martha Nawrocki
Marine Corps, Korean War
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Martha Nawrocki was born outside Detroit, and moved to Phoenix with her family in 1945. She joined the Marine Corps in 1951. At the time, women composed just a small fraction of the Marine Corps, and were often restricted to serving in the continental U.S.
Nawrocki says she was thrilled to be one of a tiny number of women Marines who were sent to Pearl Harbor during the Korean War. She recalls how unaccustomed people were then to seeing women Marines. She says once, while she was collecting her pay, a military office worker looked at her uniform, and asked her if she was a “Canadian nurse.”
Martha Nawrocki at home, proudly wearing part of her Women Marines Association uniform. She was one of two-thousand women enlisted in this branch of the service during the Korean War.
Scrapbook photos of Martha Nawrocki, taken during her time stationed in Hawaii. Martha Nawrocki was one of very few women Marines allowed to go to Pearl Harbor, where she worked as a teletype operator.
Martha Nawrocki's desk and bookshelf display memorabilia of her time in the Marines.
Martha Nawrocki flips through a photo album filled with black and white photographs from her past.
The original uniform of the women Marines once worn by Martha Nawrocki.
A sailor statuette in Martha Nawrocki’s dining room. Both her father and brother served in the Navy.
