Mary McLeod Rogers Collection

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: Only a part of this collection has been digitized.
What's in the full collection?: 20 December 1999 oral history transcript; original booklet published by the Women Marines Association, circa 1992 "The Few; the Proud: A History of Women Marines"; portrait photograph of Mary in Marines uniform, 1945; photographs of Mary at Camp Lejeune and Arlington Virginia, 1944-45; photograph of Mary with friends circa 1990's.
Full biography: Mary McLeod Rogers (1921-2011), of Taylorsville, North Carolina, served in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve from April 1944 until February 1946. Mary McLeod Rogers was born 20 June 1921 and grew up in Taylorsville, North Carolina, and graduated from high school in 1937. She took a business course at Brevard College in Brevard, North Carolina, then got an apartment with her sisters in Charlotte, North Carolina. She worked at the Hardware Mutual Fire Insurance Company for five years. Rogers joined the Women Marines in February 1944 and in April was sent to basic training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. She completed boot camp in the summer with a second class after recovering from a broken knee in the Naval Hospital, and remained at Lejeune for Paymasters' School. In the fall Rogers was sent to Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, where she audited payrolls in the Navy Annex. She was discharged in February 1946, but continued in the same job as a civilian for a few months. When Rogers returned to Charlotte, she worked for Motors Insurance Corporation and married J.B. Johnson in 1949. They had three children and lived in Whiteville, North Carolina, and later in Mullins, South Carolina. Rogers also worked for an accountant and in the family business. After the death of her first husband, she moved back to Taylorsville and remarried. She later moved to Mullins, South Carolina, where she died 10 November, 2011.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Branch of service: Marines -- USMC Womens Reserve
Conflict: World War II era (1940-1946)
Subject headings: World War, 1939-1945
United States. Marine Corps--Women
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

: Mary McLeod Rogers; Mary McLeod Rogers poses outdoors in 1945, wearing her forest green overcoat and winter service cap.

: Mary McLeod Rogers and Frances Steube; Mary McLeod Rogers (left) and fellow Marine "Frannie" Stir Steube pose on a park bench at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, circa 1944. Both women wear forest green winter uniforms, forest green bell-crown hats, and dark brown gloves. Steube has a Marines-issued handbag.

: Mary McLeod Rogers at Camp Lejeune, N.C.; Mary McLeod Rogers poses in front of a barracks at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in 1944. She wears a forest green winter uniform with bell-crown hat and gloves.

: Mary McLeod Rogers at Henderson Hall; Mary McLeod Rogers poses in front of Barracks 3 at Henderson Hall, in Arlington, Virginia, in 1945. She wears the Marines white short-sleeved summer uniform and spruce green bell-crown hat with gloves.

: Mary McLeod Rogers at Henderson Hall; Mary McLeod Rogers stands on the steps of Henderson Hall in the summer of 1945, wearing the Women Marines white long-sleeved uniform and spruce green bell-crown hat. The edge of the photo reads,"This picture will be in computer - Women in Military Service Memorial."

: Mary McLeod Rogers behind barracks; Mary McLeod Rogers poses behind Barracks 3 at Henderson Hall in 1945. She wears slacks issued for leisure wear.

: Mary McLeod Rogers behind barracks; Mary McLeod Rogers stands with a mop behind a barracks during cleaning duty at Henderson Hall in 1945. She wears a green work uniform of bibbed trousers (overalls) and a white shirt.

: Mary McLeod Rogers in front of Arlington National Cemetary, circa 1945; Mary McLeod Rogers poses in the grass behind the barracks at Henderson Hall, circa 1945. Gravestones of Arlington National Cemetery are behind her.

: Mary McLeod Rogers playing tennis; Marine Mary McLeod Rogers, with tennis racket in hand, poses on the Henderson Hall tennis court in 1945. Rows of gravestones in Arlington National Cemetery can be seen behind her. Rogers wears a one-piece seersucker "peanut suit" exercise uniform.

: Oral history interview with Mary McLeod Rogers; Primarily documents Mary McLeod Rogers's family, education, and pre-war life in North Carolina; her experiences in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve at Camp Lejeune and Arlington, Virginia, during World War II; and her personal life after the war. Rogers describes her mother's death of tuberculosis; her love of school; her sisters working to pay college tuitions and the difficulty of educating the family's nine girls; learning about the attack on Pearl Harbor; living with her sisters in Charlotte; volunteering with the war effort there, including going to army dances and assembling machinery; and breaking off an engagement to secretly join the Marines. " Topics related to Rogers' World War II service include her feeling of independence when she joined the Women Marines and why she did so; her fathers' and fiance's objections; social life at Camp Lejeune; breaking her knee in an obstacle course, her recovery, and repeating basic; basic training experiences, including drill instructors, communal showers, and lifelong friends; social life in Arlington, including dances and movies; celebrating the end of the war in Washington; her opinions of President Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt; and memorable songs. " Other topics include her correspondence with Marine friends; Tom Brokaw's book The Greatest Generation ; changes in women's roles in the military; and women's contributions to winning World War II.

: Portrait of Mary McLeod Rogers; Portrait of Mary McLeod Rogers in Marines white short-sleeved summer uniform and spruce green bell-crown hat, taken in 1945.

: Portrait of Mary McLeod Rogers; Portrait of Mary McLeod Rogers in Marines forest green winter uniform with forest green bell-crown hat in 1945.

: Two Marines and a WAVE; Mary McLeod Rogers (left) poses with her friends Mary Chenery and Alice Gauin, circa 1945. The two Marines wear forest green winter uniforms with bell-crown hats. The woman in the middle appears to be a U.S. Navy WAVE in belted coat and enlisted service hat.

: Women Marines platoon; Group photo of the "simple six," members of Mary McLeod Roger's boot camp platoon at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in spring of 1944. Marines (seated left to right) Frances Stir, Mary McLeod, Jeanne Sincerbeaux, Rosemary Keeleher, Marcia Moore, and Anne Condon all wear the white short-sleeved summer uniform and spruce green garrison cap.

: Women Marines platoon; Group photo of the "simple six," members of Mary McLeod Roger's boot camp platoon at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in spring of 1944. Marines (standing left to right) Frances Stir, Jeanne Sincerbeaux, Mary McLeod, Rosemary Keeleher, Marcia Moore, and Anne Condon all wear the white short-sleeved summer uniform and spruce green garrison cap.

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Women Veterans Historical Project

Mary McLeod Rogers Collection

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