Ruth Streeter, the First Woman Major in the Marine Corps

When Ruth Cheney was born on October 2, 1895, it is doubtful her parents envisioned her in charge of military personnel.

Cheney graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1918. She had married Thomas W. Streeter only the year before her graduation.

Streeter was involved in civic duties after her graduation. She worked in public health and welfare, unemployment relief and old-age assistance. She also served on a number of boards including the New Jersey State Relief Council and the New Jersey Board of Children's Guardians. She also served as the first woman president of Morris County, New Jersey Welfare Board.

But her true interest lay in aviation. She completed an aeronautics course at New York University and then served on the Civil Air Patrol. She took flying lessons and received a commercial pilot's license in 1942.

The very next year, Streeter was commissioned as Major and appointed Director to oversee the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve. She was the first woman awarded the rank of Major in the Marine Corps. Later that same year, Streeter was promoted to lieutenant colonel and achieved full colonel status in 1944.

While Streeter was Director of the U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reserve, she oversaw 831 officers and approximately 17,714 enlisted personnel.

She resigned her position as Director in December 1945. She was praised for her standards of excellence and service in the Corps.

Streeter received the Legion of Merit Award in 1946. A citation accompanying the award read in part: "Exercising judgment, initiative and ability, Colonel Streeter rendered distinctive service in directing the planning and organization of the Women's Reserve of the Marine Corps and skillfully integrating women into the basic structure of the Corps, carefully selected, trained and properly assigned them as replacements for men in shore establishments."[1]

Streeter received two other awards for her service: the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

She was appointed to the New Jersey Constitutional Convention in 1947.

Streeter and her mother were donors of the Cheney Award, named after Streeter's brother who was killed in an aviation accident during World War II. The annual award is given to a member of the United States Air Force for acts of valor or extreme fortitude or self-sacrifice."

Ruth Cheney Streeter died of congestive heart failure on September 30, 1990.

[1] Marine Corps History Division