Document Type

Oral History

Sharon Blair, interviewed by Caitlyn Barker, Part 1

Interviewee name

Sharon Blair

Interviewer

Caitlyn Barker

Interview date

12-4-2001

Interview location

Augusta, Maine

Time

00:45:10

Files

Streaming Media

Abstract

Sharon Blair, interviewed by Caitlyn Barker, December 4, 2001, at her home in Augusta, Maine. Blair talks about her aspirations of becoming a legal secretary; attending Thomas College; reasons for joining the Marine Corps in 1965; struggles of boot camp at Paris Island, South Carolina; treatment of women in boot camp; the developed bond between members of Marine Corps, and those of the military; life at the base at Cherry Point in North Carolina; working at the Cherry Point base while fellow Marines were deployed to Vietnam; segregation; lessons of the Marine Corps, and its impact on her life; being the first women veteran to work in a male dominated section of the VA; information about WIMSA. Text: 33 pp. transcript, 3 pp. journal. Time: 1 hour 13 minutes.

Listen:

Part 1: mfc_na3224_c2328_01
Part 2: mfc_na3224_c2328_02

Disciplines

Military History | Oral History | United States History | Women's History

Birth date

November 20, 1945

Location

Waterville, Kennebec, Maine

Nation of origin

United States

Home state/Territory

Maine

Gender

Female

Ethnicity

European-American

Occupation

Legal Secretary; Women Veteran's Coordinator, Togus

Branch of service

U.S. Marine Corps

Date of entry

May 1965

Service entry

Enlisted

Location of Service

Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, North Carolina

Entry Rank

E-1 Private

Names

Blanche Elizabeth Blair Hoodlat; Joan Furley

Locations

Waterville, Maine; Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; Thomas College, Waterville; Paris Island, South Carolina; San Diego; Boston; Vietnam; Cherry Point, North Carolina; Camp Lejeune; England; Mexico; Richmond, Virginia; Rocky Mount, North Carolina; Afghanistan; Persian Gulf; Thailand; Panama; Cuba; Orono, Maine; Long Island; Russia; Guatemala

Headings

Women in the Military; Basic Training; Segregation; Sexual assault; Sexual violence

Collection name

Women in the Military

Collection number

MF144

Item number

NA3224

Recommended Citation

Blair, Sharon, "Sharon Blair, interviewed by Caitlyn Barker, Part 1" (2023). MF144 Women in the Military. 47.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mf144/47

Rights and Access Note

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