Opha May Johnson enlists in the United States Marine Corps Reserves and becomes the first female Marine.

On this day in 1918, Opha May Johnson enlisted in the Marine Corps and became the first known female member of the Marine Corps.

 Opha May Johnson.

There would be about 300 "Marinettes" enlisted during the Great War.  Like Johnson, they'd perform clerical duties for the Marine Corps.

Johnson, it should be noted, was first simply because she was first in line that day. Others joined on the same day.  She became an NCO and supervised other clerks during the war, perhaps because she was in her 40s at the time and older than many of the other newly enlisted female Marines.  

And like all the others who joined during the war, she was mustered out of service shortly after the war when the Marine Corps eliminated its female contingent.  She later worked as a clerk for the War Department.