CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Today a history making U.S. Marine celebrated a major milestone.
Marilyn Richards Dow was born August 21, 1921 in Chicago, Illinois. She was working as a teletypist for the telephone company when World War II broke out. Her father found out the U.S. Marines would be accepting women and took her to enlist.
She was one of the first women allowed to enlist into the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943 where she became a code breaker. At the time there were no official boot camp facilities for women, so they bunked at Hunter College and marched and drilled in the streets of New York City.
She met her husband while serving at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. Three years later she mustered out of the Marines as a Corporal and married Sgt. Dwight Dow. The couple moved to Corpus Christi, and made it their home.
"I would encourage any girl to join the Marine Corps, it's a, not only is it a great experience, but you're serving your country, and I'll never forget it, it will always be the biggest part of my life. Remembering my days in the Marine Corps, was a wonderful experience. A lot of things happened, but I met my husband, that's the most important (laughs) I didn't win the war, but I won my husband," said Dow.
The couple had five children and adopted another. She now has 15 grand-kids and several great-grand children.
