Beach, Marcia E.

Description

Marcia Elizabeth Beach was born on September 28, 1923, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to Inez Eleanor Kimball, age 36, and Harold Virgil Beach, age 36. She had two sisters Ruth and Helen. In Rye her lived at Highland Hall and they were members of the Church of the Resurrection.

Marcia enlisted and served in the Hospital Corps of the WAVES during World War II.

Marcia was a graduate of Williamsport Dickinson, Junior College, class of 1942, and before her enlistment in the Hospital Corps of the WAVES, attended the Nursing School of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York.

The WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) was the women’s branch of the United States Naval Reserve, established during World War II on July 30, 1942. Created to “release a man to fight at sea,” the program allowed women to serve in shore-based roles to free up male personnel for combat duty

Established in 1942, the Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES) program included the Hospital Corps, with female members known as “CorpsWAVES” serving as the largest group of women in Navy Medicine during World War II. They provided critical care as nurses, technicians, and pharmacists, primarily at naval hospitals within the U.S. to relieve men for sea duty.

Although initially intended only for the wartime “emergency,” the success of the WAVES led to the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, which allowed women to serve as permanent, regular members of the U.S. military. The term “WAVES” continued in official and popular use until the 1970s.

During the war Marcia was stationed at the U. S. Naval Air Station Dispensary, Patuxent River, MD.

Marcia married William Mount Perrine in Rye, New York, on January 29, 1945, when she was 21 years old. They had two children during their marriage. They were divorced in 1952 in Dade City, Florida, after 8 years of marriage. She was 29 years old.

Marcia would settle in Florida and later remarry. She was a noted speaker at Veterans Day events.

Marcia Elizabeth Beach died on July 27, 1998, at the age of 74.