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A number of area women were on hand to be honored for their service in the military, during a Veteran's Day observance, in central Pennsylvania, Tuesday, November 10.
U.S. Army Col. Marue Quick, , who currently assigned as a student at the Carlisle Army War College, and former commander of an explosive ordnance disposal, EOD, unit in Iraq, was the keynote speaker for the event. Prior to her presentation, area women veterans shared some of their military story and were honored for their service.
Lori Schrum Ross of Dillsburg, enrolled in Lock Haven University's ROTC program. She said she was first assigned to the quartermaster corps rigger school at Ft. Lee, Va. She was trained how to pack parachutes for a variety of uses. She was then transferred to Ft. Bragg, N.C.
“Rigger school is learning how to drop equipment out of an airplane,” she said. “Rigging parachutes to equipment, packing parachutes, sewing parachutes ...”
On Christmas, 1989, she participated in the U.S. invasion of Panama to depose dictator, Gen. Manuel Noriega. She said she returned to the states in June of 1990.
Deana Weaver of Dillsburg, joined the Army at age 16 in 1976. She completed her basic training at Ft. Jackson, S.C. After finishing basic, she was transferred to Germany, where she remained until 1980.
Upon being discharged from active service, she joined the Army Reserves, first being stationed at Greencastle and later in New Mexico. While stationed in New Mexico, her unit was sent to Korea.
“When my unit in New Mexico said we're going to Korea, I was absolutely thrilled,” she said. “It was one week after MiGs shot down the commercial airliner, (Korean Air Lines, KAL Flight 007, Sept. 1, 1983).”
Carol Freeland of the Dillsburg area said she had tried to enlist in the Army Reserves, in the late 1960s, but at the time they had weight limits. She said at 95 pounds, she did not qualify.
“It took me 10 years to gain the weight and they changed the rules and let me in,” Freeland said. “I grew up in Centre County, around my father … we grew up shooting. Going through qualifications they had heard there was a New York City cop. We were on the line shooting, laying down in the prone position.”
A sergeant approached her and asked if she was the cop … because she was the only one using the proper firing position. Freeland was assigned with the 315 Army Reserves Engineers at New Cumberland.
Susan Orndorff, who served both in the regular Army and the National Guard for 10 years, said she joined in 1975. She was active through 1978. She completed basic training at Ft. McClellan, Alexandria, Ala.
“I went to electronics training and ordnance school in Havre de Grace, Md.,' Orndorff said. “I was transferred to Ft. Hood, Texas, where I remained until I got out.”
Following discharge from active duty, she enlisted in the National Guard. She was assigned to the 109th Artillery Division at Carlisle.
Madeline Schmid of Dillsburg, said she served for three years with the Navy Medical Corps during World War II. Her first tour was at a Marine Corps hospital in North Carolina, where she received her medical training.
“Then, I was transferred to the Seattle Naval Hospital in Washington State, where I was involved with treating contagious diseases,” Schmid said. “Then they sent me to Mare Island Naval Hospital, California, where they brought all the amputees back from the South Pacific and that was a very emotional time for me.”
Schmid said she served from 1943-46. At the time, women had to be at least 20 years old to enlist and had to be single. If they married, they were discharged.
Mary Herth, was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and later moved to Queens. She quit school at age 16, taking a job as a switchboard operator with the New York Telephone Company. When she turned 21, in 1961, she decided to take military leave and join the Air Force.
There was one slight problem. She had not graduated from high school. She was given three days to prepare for and take a GED test. She passed.
“I went to Lackland Air Force Base, (Texas), for basic training,” Herth said. “Then I went to Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. Being that I was in the telephone company … they said it would be beneficial to the Air Force if I stayed in communications.”
While at Sheppard, she met her future husband. She was transferred to McGuire Air Force Base, Allentown, where she was put in charge of the base communications center. She married on Feb. 10, 1962, and will be married for 42 years.
“I really enjoyed being in the service,” she said. “I was so proud. I felt that I belonged.”
Following discharge, she went back to work with the telephone company. She eventually worked for David Sarnoff, president of RCA.
Cloyce “Dusty” Schwille of Dillsburg, said that when she joined the Army in 1942, women had to be at least 21. It was during her third year in college, when a representative from the Women's Army Corps, (WACs), gave a recruitment speech on campus, saying that women were needed to fill positions once held by me, so that the men could be used for combat duty.
Originally from Oklahoma, Schwille completed basic training at Daytona Beach, Fla. Later she was transferred to Valley Forge Hospital in Phoenixville, Pa. She served for three years.
“Things were so different then,” Schwille said. “I was making $50 a month salary. We couldn't wear civilian clothes unless we were on post. Things were very tough.”
While working at the hospital, she said, she cried a lot. It was a difficult to see all the young wounded men.
“I wouldn't trade anything for those three years,” Schwille, who turns 88, in two weeks, said.
Col. Quick said she enrolled in the U.S. Army ROTC program at Western Illinois University. Her first assignment overseas was in Germany. At first, she pursued training as an ammunition platoon leader. After three years in that position, she was told that she should go to explosive ordnance disposal school.
Training lasted about 37 weeks. The school was for Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. She has served for about 17 years, 13 of which were overseas – Germany, Korea and a couple times in Iraq.
“The last time I was in Iraq for 15 months,” Col. Quick said. “I was there during the surge, from Oct '05 to '06 and '07. Soldiers of the 79th executed over 12,000 explosive ordnance device disposals.”
During that time, 350 soldiers from the combined services, conducted 60,000 combat operations, found and cleared 23,000 improvised explosive devices, IEDs.
Today, she said, there are 73,000 women serving in the U.S. Army. While not assigned in direct combat positions, women are exposed to the same combat conditions as their male counterparts, she said. Since 2002, women completed 172,000 combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
“One hundred women gave the ultimate sacrifice,” Col. Quick said. “More than 600 have been injured in combat. Women are found throughout the tactical combat footprint.”
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