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SSgt Gratia H. Ouellette Oral History Side A
Publication date: 31 July 2024
File metadata
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title:
SSgt Gratia H. Ouellette Oral History Side A
creator:
Ouellette, Gratia (Howard) (1923 May 15 - )
subject:
Marine Corps Women's Reserve
description:
Side 1 of 2. Gratia H. Ouellette (formerly Howard) was born on May 15, 1923 in St. Paul, Minnesota. She graduated high school from St. Paul Central in 1940, and although she always assumed she would go to college, she realized talking about it with her parents that they could not afford for her to go. Instead, she went to Cable Secretarial College in St. Paul. She enlisted in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve in the summer of 1943 when she was 20. After enlisting, she went to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for basic training. After completing training, it took them four to six weeks to get their first assignments, and she ended up staying at Camp Lejeune in the audit office. She met her future husband in this position on base, because it had been his position before he tried out for the V12 program. He washed out and returned to the office, where they subsequently met. They married while in North Carolina and he was sent to the Pacific, so by the time Gratia was up for her discharge in November 1945 she was ready to leave and start their new life together, having their first daughter in 1948. She also utilized the GI Bill to attend the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1950 with a degree in political science. They had four more children together after she finished her degree, having four daughters and one son together overall. After all their children were in school, she got a job at the University of Minnesota’s College of Pharmacy, where she worked for 17 years. When se left the service Ouellette reached the rank of staff 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:
Scott, Kate M.
date:
2006-06-08
type:
Audio
format:
Cassette
identifier:
712; 2006.712
source:
CLIR - Recordings at Risk
language:
English
relation:
440516
coverage:
World War II (1939-1945) | 1943-45
rights:
Unrestricted