MF144 Women in the Military
The Maine Women Veterans Oral History Project collected oral interviews with women veterans through a collaborative effort of the Maine Commission on Women Veterans, the Maine Studies program at UMaine, and the Women Studies Program at the University of Maine. The Women in the Military collection also includes the original project plus interviews from MF135 National Folk Festival and MF147 Nursing Collection.
Corrections, additions, images, or updates to Veteran service record information may be sent to um(dot)library(dot)spc(at)maine(dot)edu.
Content Warning: Libraries and archives collect materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. As a result, materials such as those presented here may reflect sexist, misogynistic, abusive, racist, or discriminatory attitudes, actions, or ethnic slurs that some may find disturbing, harmful, or difficult to view.
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Jacalyn L. Ellingsen, interviewed by Sarah Lawler, Part 3
Jacalyn Louisa Shope Ellingsen
Jacalyn L. Ellingsen, interviewed by Sarah Lawler, November 13, 2001, unknown location. Ellingsen talks about her experience as an information manager in the Air National Guard since 1979; basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas; tech school in MS; her reasons for joining; computer use; rules and regulations; the view of women in the military, Air Force, and administration; her experience as a hippie in Huntingdon, PA during the Vietnam War; patriotism; her view of the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War; the role of the Air Nation Guard; the reaction of her family and friends to her enlistment; GI Bill; the relationship between the government and the military; her stay in Alaska during her husband’s tour; marriage, divorce, and motherhood; military benefits; the government’s handling of September 11th and anthrax; the role of women and discrimination in the military and civilian workplace; women in combat; female relationships; military promotional policies; travel. Transcript: 48 pp. Time: 1 hour 10 minutes.
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Deena Sole, interviewed by Joelle Quartarone, Part 1
Deena Sole
Deena Sole, interviewed by Joelle Quartarone, November 3, 2001. Sole talks about joining the Navy in 1985; completing her basic training in Orlando, FL; being stationed in Agrigento, Sicily as a seamen recruit; being in an MAS unit in Jacksonville, FL during the Gulf War. Text: 10 pp. transcript. Time: 01:06:27.
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Deena Sole, interviewed by Joelle Quartarone, Part 2
Deena Sole
Deena Sole, interviewed by Joelle Quartarone, November 3, 2001. Sole talks about joining the Navy in 1985; completing her basic training in Orlando, FL; being stationed in Agrigento, Sicily as a seamen recruit; being in an MAS unit in Jacksonville, FL during the Gulf War. Text: 10 pp. transcript. Time: 01:06:27.
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Joan Strayer, interviewed by Shavonne Brosnan
Joan Strayer
Joan Strayer, interviewed by Shavonne Brosnan, May 8, 2003, Bangor, Maine, about her service in the U.S. Navy and her perspective on women serving in the military. Lieutenant Commander Joan Strayer, U.S. Navy Aviation Maintenance Officer, retired in 2007 after 20 years in service. Time: 00:24:20.
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Olive Benton, interviewed by Miranda Coombs
Olive R. Stuart Benton
Olive Benton, interviewed by Miranda Coombs, May 2, 2003, in Benton’s home in Bangor, Maine. Benton was born in Etna, Maine. Topics covered include Benton’s experiences in the Army during the Korean War; basic training; segregation of men and women in the military bases; being in Tokyo during the Korean War; treatment of lesbians; homosexuality unacceptable in the military; Benton’s relationships within the military; her marriage and death of her husband; treatment of soldiers in foreign countries; Benton’s willingness to rejoin the military. Text: 27 pp. transcript. Time: 00:41:13. Photographs: p14549-p14551.
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Marion Townsend, interviewed by Phyllis von Herrlich
Marion Adell Townsend
Marion Townsend, interviewed by Phyllis von Herrlich, January 6, 2002. Townsend talks about joining the service in 1942; twenty-eight when she joined the Navy; Hunter College for boot camp training; lived in dorms; went to store keeper school; ordered supplies; was in for two years; trained with just women; didn’t get trained to shoot a gun; it was either get out or go to Japan; naval reserve for two years; type a certain WPM to pass store keeper school; went to Gates Business College; went to the University of Maine for a year then to Farmington; teaching for thirty-seven years; wants women to join the military; her rank was third class store keeper. Text: 35 pp. transcript. Time: 00:48:15.
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Luise Trost Cirillo, interviewed by Angela Nickerson, Part 1
Luise Trost Cirillo
Luise (Trost) Cirillo, interviewed by Angela Nickerson, March 17, 2002, Pittsfield, Maine. Cirillo (b. 1912) talks about being growing up in Germany; working as a cook; coming to the U. S. in 1936 to escape Hitler’s Germany; meeting the Von Trapp family; first impressions of America; training to be a nurse; treating patients with malaria; difficulty joining the Navy as a German; her leisure time; working in a military hospital; secret marriage; hearing about the end of WWII; her military leave; living in Boston with her husband; private duty nurse at Deaconess Hospital in Boston; public health nurse in Springfield, MA; husband studied to be a lawyer; his job offer in Pittsfield, Maine in 1950; husband served as District Attorney for 3 terms in Skowhegan, ME; meeting Galen Cole; experiences of her parents in Germany during and after the war; how life in Europe was different after the war. Text: 36 pp. transcript. Time: 00:01:36. Photographs: p14535, p14536.
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Luise Trost Cirillo, interviewed by Angela Nickerson, Part 2
Luise Trost Cirillo
Luise (Trost) Cirillo, interviewed by Angela Nickerson, March 17, 2002, Pittsfield, Maine. Cirillo (b. 1912) talks about being growing up in Germany; working as a cook; coming to the U. S. in 1936 to escape Hitler’s Germany; meeting the Von Trapp family; first impressions of America; training to be a nurse; treating patients with malaria; difficulty joining the Navy as a German; her leisure time; working in a military hospital; secret marriage; hearing about the end of WWII; her military leave; living in Boston with her husband; private duty nurse at Deaconess Hospital in Boston; public health nurse in Springfield, MA; husband studied to be a lawyer; his job offer in Pittsfield, Maine in 1950; husband served as District Attorney for 3 terms in Skowhegan, ME; meeting Galen Cole; experiences of her parents in Germany during and after the war; how life in Europe was different after the war. Text: 36 pp. transcript. Time: 00:01:36. Photographs: p14535, p14536.
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Angel Tyler, interviewed by Miranda Coombs
Angel Tyler
Angel Tyler, interviewed by Miranda Coombs, May 5, 2003. Tyler talks about her experiences in the Gulf War. Text: 23 pp. transcript. Time: 00:57:59. Photographs: p14544-p14548.
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Angel Maria Tyler, interviewed by Tiffany Jones, Part 1
Angel Maria Tyler
Angel Maria Tyler, interviewed by Tiffany Jones, November 5, 2001, Bangor, Maine. Tyler talks about Angel's birth date and birthplace; her parents; her upbringing; her reasons for joining the military; Air Force basic training; service from 1987 to 1992; her reaction to cutting her hair; places she was stationed; her service in Minot, North Dakota and Germany; ranks she attained during her service, being an administrative specialist; being a marksman; experiences as a woman in the military; what she has learned from her military experience; her opinions on rape in the military and rape at academic institutes; how she feels about her military service. Text: 49 pp. transcript. Time: 01:42:07. Photographs: p14544-p14548.
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Angel Maria Tyler, interviewed by Tiffany Jones, Part 2
Angel Maria Tyler
Angel Maria Tyler, interviewed by Tiffany Jones, November 5, 2001, Bangor, Maine. Tyler talks about Angel's birth date and birthplace; her parents; her upbringing; her reasons for joining the military; Air Force basic training; service from 1987 to 1992; her reaction to cutting her hair; places she was stationed; her service in Minot, North Dakota and Germany; ranks she attained during her service, being an administrative specialist; being a marksman; experiences as a woman in the military; what she has learned from her military experience; her opinions on rape in the military and rape at academic institutes; how she feels about her military service. Text: 49 pp. transcript. Time: 01:42:07. Photographs: p14544-p14548.
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Angel Maria Tyler, interviewed by Tiffany Jones, Part 3
Angel Maria Tyler
Angel Maria Tyler, interviewed by Tiffany Jones, November 5, 2001, Bangor, Maine. Tyler talks about Angel's birth date and birthplace; her parents; her upbringing; her reasons for joining the military; Air Force basic training; service from 1987 to 1992; her reaction to cutting her hair; places she was stationed; her service in Minot, North Dakota and Germany; ranks she attained during her service, being an administrative specialist; being a marksman; experiences as a woman in the military; what she has learned from her military experience; her opinions on rape in the military and rape at academic institutes; how she feels about her military service. Text: 49 pp. transcript. Time: 01:42:07. Photographs: p14544-p14548.
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Angel Maria Tyler, interviewed by Tiffany Jones, Part 4
Angel Maria Tyler
Angel Maria Tyler, interviewed by Tiffany Jones, November 5, 2001, Bangor, Maine. Tyler talks about Angel's birth date and birthplace; her parents; her upbringing; her reasons for joining the military; Air Force basic training; service from 1987 to 1992; her reaction to cutting her hair; places she was stationed; her service in Minot, North Dakota and Germany; ranks she attained during her service, being an administrative specialist; being a marksman; experiences as a woman in the military; what she has learned from her military experience; her opinions on rape in the military and rape at academic institutes; how she feels about her military service. Text: 49 pp. transcript. Time: 01:42:07. Photographs: p14544-p14548.
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Irene Walker Infererra, interviewed by John Dunham, Part 1
Irene Blanche Walker Infererra
Irene Walker Infererra, interviewed by John Dunham, November 26, 2000. Walker talks about training as a nurse in Belfast, Maine; entering the Army Nurses Corps in April 1943; serving in Camp Edwards, MA and England during World War II. Text: 11 pp. partial transcript. Time: 01:03:46.
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Irene Walker Infererra, interviewed by John Dunham, Part 2
Irene Blanche Walker Infererra
Irene Walker Infererra, interviewed by John Dunham, November 26, 2000. Walker talks about training as a nurse in Belfast, Maine; entering the Army Nurses Corps in April 1943; serving in Camp Edwards, MA and England during World War II. Text: 11 pp. partial transcript. Time: 01:03:46.
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Phyllis Sprague, interviewed by Kristen Frey, Part 1
Phyllis M. Wheeler Sprague
Phyllis Sprague, interviewed by Kristen Frey on November 14, 2001. Sprague was born in Newbury, Vermont in 1943. Sprague talks about joining the Army in 1961; a typical day in basic training and then working for the Army; experience as a medical officer in the Army; Sprague’s attitude toward the military and government becoming more patriotic after her service; way soldiers were welcomed home after Vietnam compared to the Gulf War; relationship between men and women in the military in the 60s; having to leave the military for pregnancy; absence of sexual harassment in the Army. Text: 10 pp. transcript. Time: 00:37:21.
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Phyllis Sprague, interviewed by Kristen Frey, Part 2
Phyllis M. Wheeler Sprague
Phyllis Sprague, interviewed by Kristen Frey on November 14, 2001. Sprague was born in Newbury, Vermont in 1943. Sprague talks about joining the Army in 1961; a typical day in basic training and then working for the Army; experience as a medical officer in the Army; Sprague’s attitude toward the military and government becoming more patriotic after her service; way soldiers were welcomed home after Vietnam compared to the Gulf War; relationship between men and women in the military in the 60s; having to leave the military for pregnancy; absence of sexual harassment in the Army. Text: 10 pp. transcript. Time: 00:37:21.
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