| Original caption: “Two students at the United States Marine Corps parachute rigging school for women on the Atlantic Coast of the United States check the all-important pilot chute before it is folded into the parachute pack. The pilot chute opens as soon as the rip cord is pulled and helps draw the main chute from the pack.” Under the slogan “Be a Marine! Free a Marine to fight!” the United States Marine Corps Women’s Reserve (USMCWR) commanded by Colonel Ruth C. Streeter (October 2, 1895 – September 30, 1990) trained 19,000 at peak strength in 1945. Recruits couldn’t have any children under age 18, and had to be 5 feet tall and weight 95 pounds. Officers had to complete 2 years of college, enlisted personnel 2 years of high school. Officers could be 20 to 50 years of age; enlisted women 20 to 36 years of age. Everyone had to be of sound physical condition. Privates earned 50 dollars a month and Majors 250. Officers received an allowance for rent for dependents. Basic Training was at 1st at Mount Holyoke College, then at Hunter College’s Bronx campus. In July 1943, all women Marines were sent to Camp Lejeune. After Basic, women Marines could select specialized training like parachute rigging, which began in December 1942. Eventually 25 colleges offered specialized courses to military women. The 2 women shown in this view wear the summer service uniform while rigging parachutes at Naval Air Station (NAS) Lakehurst New Jersey. This seersucker green and white dress was selected by United States Marine Corps Captain Anne A. Lentz (July 19, 1901 – August 8, 1976), an expert in textiles, who designed the uniforms for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) before joining the United States Marine Corps Women’s Reserve (USMCWR) as Streeter’s 2nd-in-Command. The parachute rigger course at NAS Lakehurst took 3 months; enlisted graduates were promoted to Private 1st Class pay with the rating Parachute Rigger 3rd Class, and sent to Marine Corps Air Stations across the United States. Each student was required to hand-forge their own aluminum rigging tools, which they would then carry with them to every assigned station. Students also learned how to sew signal flags. The riggers would make metal nameplates for the Marine pilots to mark their parachutes, test oxygen equipment and pack life rafts, flight bags and survival gear. Long tables would allow riggers to spread out the parachute with 1 handler on each side. Each rigger would take the parachute cords over their shoulders until each handler had half of the cords. Then, the parachute would be carefully folded and packed. Other riggers would inspect each packed parachute. Naphthalene would be placed in each parachute to prevent moths from eating the silk. It was removed before the parachute was used. If a parachute needed repair, the riggers would pull the parachute and sew it up or replace cords. Some parachute riggers learned to jump and fly airplanes. They would pack their own parachutes when they jumped. A barracks just for the USMCWR and the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES – the United States Navy’s program) in parachute rigger training was built at NAS Lakehurst in January 1943. Classes ran from 0800 Hours to 1630 Hours, and every other fortnight on Thursday and Friday evenings, students were allowed to depart NAS Lakehurst. After hours, students could use the base gymnasium, game room, movie theater, or see shows by celebrities like Kate Smith, Abbott and Costello, Jack Benny, Phil Spitalny and Arturo Toscanini. There were competitions for speed packing parachutes. NAS Lakehurst opened for training male parachute riggers in 1924. Women arrived in 1943. The school closed in October 1990. Operations were moved to Millington, Tennessee that August. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0441.jpg |
| Image Size | 680.11 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1979 x 2929 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Office for Emergency Management, Office of War Information |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 1, 1943 |
| Location | NAS Lakehurst |
| City | Lakehurst |
| State or Province | New Jersey |
| Country | United States |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-208-MO-157B(14790) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database