Roughstuff's Korean War Archive
book reviews and summaries, comments, analysis
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Geocities must have some restriction on how long/large an individual page can be, so here are my Korean war book reviews, continued!

Soderbergh, Peter A. Women Marines in the Korean War Era
DS 920.5 M37 1994

This book is a follow up to the Soderbergh's earlier book about Women Marines in the WWII era. It has an interesting panorama of the Sociology of America in the WWII period and its aftermath, much akin to the description Melady has in his book Canada's Forgotton Waron page one above. A Marine himself, Soderbergh describes in dense prose how the Corps managed to survive the 1947 Security Act, which redefined the nature of the Armed Services. Even so, he points out that the Korean War, Vietnam and Desert Storm continued to present the USMC with the challenge to define precisely its role as a land based fighting force.
On the specific issue of Women Marines (or WM's as they are called, in contrast to the earlier role as WR's--women reservists) the author provides some personal accounts about what it was like for the women to leave for Korea. He points out the Marine magazine Leatherneck was 'supportive, if also condescending' of the Women marines in the text of its articles but the cartoons continued to cater to the 'sexist juvenile side' of the readership. Soderbergh also says that for many WMs the Marine Corps was their first exposure to racial segregation outside the South.
The author touches briefly on the issue of sexual discrimination, harassment and gays/lesbians in the military. The Marines were concerned about Lesbians in the WR as early as 1943. Soderbergh provides testimonials from a few Women Marines which include discussion of the all-too-familiar clandestine investigations, pressure to reveal names, etc. Soderbergh believes that the Marines today, if they had their way, would probably choose not to allow gays to 'wear the Marine Uniform under any circumstances. ' For more about Lesbians in the military, read Confessions of an Army Dyke also on this website.

Especially memorable is the blow-by-blow account of a classroom session taught by Captain Smith at Parris Island..sort of the Socratic method, marine corps style.

The most moving part of the book comes at the end where the author delivers two tributes. One is to his ex-wife, also a former Marine, who remains in Soderbergh's mind as '...that talented sergeant who represented everything that was good about Women Marines.." The other is his personal interest in WM Germaine Catherine Laville. Laville, who died in a tragic fire while at Cherry Point, has a dormitory at LSU named after her. Soderbergh, who was a student at LSU when he noticed her picture, had his interest piqued by this woman Marine, and decided to write a biography of Laville.

Korean War scholars and researchers will appreciate the bibliography and footnotes in this text.



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