Title	[First Sergeant's School class, 1944]
Date	1944
Subject headings	World War, 1939-1945 United States. Marine Corps--Women
Era	World War II era (1940-1946)
Service branch	Marines--USMC Womens Reserve
Item description	The 23 female Marines of the January-March 1944 First Sergeant's School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, stand at parade rest in their classroom. The women wear the winter forest green uniform with bell-crown hat.
Veteran's name	Giles, Katherine Faye Kane
Veteran's biography	K. Faye Kane Giles (1918-2010) of Donora, Pennsylvania, served in the Women Marines from 1943 to 1945 . Katherine Faye Kane Giles was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, in January of 1918. She graduated from Donora High School in 1934 and completed a two year program at a business college. Giles was subsequently employed as a secretary in the Washington County school system and then worked as the chief clerk at American Steel and Wire Company . Giles enlisted in the Women Marines in March 1943 and was sent to Hunter College in New York for boot camp. In June 1943, she received an assignment for the recruiting station in Nashville, Tennessee. After six months primarily processing applications from male recruits, Giles was recommended for and completed First Sergeant School at Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1944. She was then sent to Marine Air Corps Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, in April of 1944 for assignment and received orders to Marine Corps Air Station Edenton, North Carolina. There she was placed in charge of a women’s squadron. In February 1945, the base was absorbed by Cherry Point, where she worked in the adjutant department of the post exchange. On July 12, 1945, she married a fellow Marine, Roscoe Giles. She was discharged from the Marines in October 1945, but remained on base as a civilian secretary for the commanding general." Following WWII, Giles moved with her husband to Fort Fairfield, Maine, and when he was recalled to active duty during the Koren War, they moved to Massachusetts. The couple later lived in Pennsylvania for two years and in New York, where Giles worked as a secretary in two elementary schools. When her family moved to Michigan two years later, she worked as a bookkeeper, legal secretary, and a director of a community foundation. They later lived in Holland for twenty years. In 1983, Giles and her husband retired to North Carolina. Giles died in Salisbury, North Carolina in 2010.
Place	Philadelphia (Pa.)
Type	image
Original format	photographs
Image type	Posed military unit
Original publisher	[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Contributing institution	Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
Source collection	WV0215 Katherine Faye Giles 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. Photo by A. A. Freeman; Official Photograph U.S. Marine Corps, Public Relations Section, EPD No. 343-37
Object ID	WV0215.6.002
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	900812311

[First Sergeant's School class, 1944]

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