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[Mary Galster Layton Starkey with her ex-husband Larry Layton]

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[Mary Galster Layton Starkey with her ex-husband Larry Layton]

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Title	[Mary Galster Layton Starkey with her ex-husband Larry Layton]
Date	Undated
Subject headings	United States. Army--Women United States--History--1945-
Era	Vietnam Era (1964-1974) Post-Vietnam, Panama, Grenada (1975-1989)
Service branch	Army--WAC Army
Item description	Mary Galster Layton Starkey with her ex-husband Larry Layton, Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Veteran's name	Starkey, Mary Galster Layton
Veteran's biography	Mary Galster Layton Starkey (b. 1949), of Buffalo, New York, served in the Women's Army Corps from 1968-1969 as a combat medic and in the United States Army from 1975-1985 as a cook. Mary Galster Layton Starkey was born 26 October 1949 in Buffalo, New York. During high school she participated in the Civil Air Patrol, and graduated in 1967. In 1968, Starkey joined the Women's Army Corps (WAC) and chose the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 91B, Combat Medic. She traveled to Fort McClellan, Alabama, for basic training, where her training included classes about beauty, grooming and makeup. Starkey was then assigned to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, for combat medic training. In 1969, Starkey began her first assignment as part of a WAC detachment at Forest Glen in Silver Spring, Maryland, an annex of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She soon became pregnant, and was given three months before she had to leave the WAC. Unfortunately, Starkey lost both that infant and a subsequent infant due to medical issues. She left the WAC, Starkey began doing home healthcare. In 1975, Starkey decided to rejoin the military and enlisted in the United States Army with the MOS 94B, Food Service Specialist. Her contract also stipulated that she would attend the U.S. Army Airborne School. She traveled to Fort McClellan again, where her basic training this time included weapons and field training. She was then sent to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, for cook school. While in South Carolina, Starkey was informed she had a breach of contract because airborne school was not an option for female cooks. After speaking with the group sergeant major, Starkey was offered a position in 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In 1977, Starkey began airborne school. She was one of only two women in the unit, and the only female cook. She participated in a drill on airborne emergency procedures, learned parachute landing falls (PLFs) and aircraft exiting, and performed water jumps into Mott Lake at Fort Bragg. In 1978, Starkey was sent for a tour in Korea. During her time there, Starkey's mess hall unit received the Philip A. Connelly Award for Excellence in Army Food. She also had the opportunity to ride along on several buffer zone flights, and visited Yong Ju Gol, a red-light district in Gyeonggi Province. After a year, Starkey returned to Fort Bragg. In 1983, Starkey's airborne career was sidelined when she was involved in a motorcycle accident and broke her leg. She left the U.S. Army in 1985 as a staff sergeant, E-6.
Type	Image
Original format	photographs
Original publisher	[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Language	en
Contributing institution	Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
Source collection	WV0614 Mary Galster Layton Starkey Papers
Collection summary	The collection include a June 2016 oral history interview and copies and originals of photographs and military papers.
Rights statement	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Additional rights information	IN COPYRIGHT. This item is subject to copyright. Contact the rights holder noted above for permission to reuse.
Object ID	WV0614.6.002
Digital publisher	The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304 -- http://library.uncg.edu/
OCLC number	952960398

[Mary Galster Layton Starkey with her ex-husband Larry Layton]

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