Sgt Florence C. Nagler Oral History Side A - Edited

title:

Sgt Florence C. Nagler Oral History Side A - Edited

creator:

Nagler, Florence (Caplan) (1922 Octoer 15 - )

subject:

Marine Corps Women's Reserve

description:

Side 1 of 2. This is the edited interview audio. Florence C. Nagler (formerly Caplan) was born on October 15, 1922 in New York City. She graduated from Julia Richmond High School in Manhattan in June 1939 and wanted to go to college, but her father thought college was not for women. Instead, she worked as a jewelry designer apprentice for two years. She then went to work for the Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, taking drafting courses in the morning and working in the afternoons. She was sick for a few months after finishing that course in June 1943, and decided to enlist afterwards. She initially planned to enlist in the Navy WAVES, but went to the Marine Corps recruiters first, joining the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve in October 1943. She was called to duty in January 1944, stopping at Washington, DC long enough to go on a quick tour before getting to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for basic training. After basic, she was sent to Cherry Point, North Carolina to take aptitude tests and wait for an assignment. At the end of March 1944, she was sent to San Diego, California and set up with 49 other women with Marine Corps Air Base Group Two, which they were only meant to stay with for a few weeks as the base at El Toro, California was being prepared. Her first day there, she was told to take a bus to her barrack and got on alright. As it traveled, however, she noticed the bus never stopped, it was moving slowly enough that men just hopped on and off. She tried to do so where she was meant to get off and twisted her ankle in the landing, putting her in the San Diego Naval Hospital for the next month and a half. When she was able to work in a cast, she was stationed in the library, went home on furlough for a month, and worked at the radio shop when she returned to California in July. Although she was meant to install radios in planes, she requested a different job and was in luck since they needed someone to do drafting work. She still wanted to get out of the radio shop, and was excited to be moved to a clerical job with the carpenter shop. After building a mock-up for a galley in a plane, she became something like an assistant to Kevin Kirst. Towards the end of her service, she was stationed at Camp Elliot and El Toro for a few weeks each, and was discharged in December 1945. When she got home she worked as a bookkeeper while planning to go to college. In October 1946 she met her husband, who had been at Camp Elliot with the Navy. They married in October 1947 and had four children together. She attended Brookly College in 1964, graduated in 1968, and began working at the Social Security Administration. When she left the service Nagler had reached the rank of sergeant, and for her service she was awarded an American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Wilson, Eleanor M.

date:

2004-06-16

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

678; 2004.678

source:

MCHC | CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

066703

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1943-45

rights:

Unrestricted