Cpl Emma Lou Dyke Oral History

title:

Cpl Emma Lou Dyke Oral History

creator:

Dyke, Emma Lou (Guirdy) (1920 February 18 - )

subject:

Marine Corps Women's Reserve

description:

Emma Lou Dyke (formerly Guidry) was born on February 18, 1920 in Port Arthur, Texas, where she grew up with her parents, 5 brothers, and 2 sisters. They all graduated from St. Mary’s Catholic School and she attended Port Arthur Business School after that. When World War II began she was working as a secretary at Consolidated Steel Ship Building Corporation, where she worked until the Marine Corps accepted women since she thought it would be the best military branch to join. She enlisted from Dallas, Texas in 1943 and was sent to Hunter College, New York in the second class of Marines to be sent there for training. After boot camp, she was sent to Washington, DC to work in the Office of Personnel Division of the Marine Corps in Arlington, Virginia. She was a secretary in the Officer Performance division, mostly typing out letters and orders. She was later moved to the Officer’s Records division, where she kept records on cards of where officers were being transferred to. While stationed there, she inadvertently caused Captain Churchville, who was in her chain of command, to be investigated and found out to be using women working below him as babysitters. He was ordered to stop, but she thinks that this investigation led to her promotion and requests for transfer to be stonewalled since they all went through him. She was nearly assaulted at least a couple of times while in Washington, DC, once by a marine at a party who tried to pull her off to a private space, and another time by a cab driver who tried to drive her somewhere she didn’t want to go. She made it out of these encounters safe, if shaken up. She was discharged from the Marines in September of 1945 and returned to Texas, working as an executive secretary at several different companies. She then married and had four children. That marriage didn’t work out, so after years as a homemaker, she taught herself shorthand on an electric typewriter and re-entered the workforce in Houston, Texas. She worked in various departments within the City of Houston, including two years as the secretary of Mayor Hofheinz. She also taught dancing professionally and as a volunteer with the International Seaman’s Center. She retired in 1989 and lives with her son, who is a veteran of the Vietnam War. When she left the service in 1945 Dyke had reached the rank of corporal, and for her service she was awarded a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, 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:

2004-09-06

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

259; 2004.259

source:

MCHC | CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

111123

coverage:

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

rights:

Unrestricted