When we think of Marines, we often picture the sun, bleached sand of Parris Island or the hard edges of MCRD San Diego, echoing with cadence calls and the bark of drill instructors. The crucible, the obstacle course, the gas chamber, these are the shared trials that forge every enlisted Marine. Or so we think.
But dig into the annals of Marine Corps history, and you find a surprising twist. Long before Bea Arthur became a household name as Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls, she was Staff Sergeant Bernice Frankel, a United States Marine. And no, she never set foot on Parris Island or San Diego. Her boot camp? Hunter College in the Bronx.
In February 1943, as the nation was engulfed in World War II, the Marine Corps opened its ranks to women for the first time. The Marine Corps Women’s Reserve was born, and Bernice Frankel was among the first to answer the call. The Corps had no training infrastructure for women yet, so they leaned on the Navy’s solution: transform Hunter College into a boot camp. Imagine learning to march on sidewalks, taking classes in military regulations in old lecture halls, and running drills through city streets.
But Hunter College wasn’t the only site that trained the first generation of women Marines:
Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts: Beginning in March 1943, it hosted the first Marine officer candidates at the U.S. Midshipmen School (Women’s Reserve).
Hunter College, New York City: Served as the primary boot camp for enlisted women in the Navy and Marine Corps.
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: By July 1, 1943, all Women’s Reserve training was centralized here, with dedicated facilities built for both enlisted and officer candidates.
Marine Corps Base San Diego: A staging ground for overseas-bound women, offering short, intensive physical training, cargo net drills, and shipboard procedure classes for those headed to Hawaii and beyond.
After her basic indoctrination in New York, Bea Arthur was sent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where she trained as a truck driver and dispatcher in the Motor Transport School. She served at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, climbing the ranks to Staff Sergeant in just over two years. From 1943 to 1945, she drove trucks, issued orders, and proved herself in a male-dominated domain that had only just begun to accept women into its fold.
Her rapid rise wasn’t just rare, it was a reflection of wartime urgency and her own competence. In peacetime, such promotion speed would be unheard of. But the Marines of WWII were moving fast, and women like Arthur stepped up to fill the gaps with grit and grace.
After the war, she traded in her uniform for the stage, eventually captivating millions on television. But behind the laughter and sarcasm of her famous roles was a woman who had served with honor, even if quietly.
So yes, it’s true: not every enlisted Marine went through Parris Island or San Diego. In fact, the first generation of enlisted female Marines carved their own path. Bea Arthur was one of them. She didn’t survive the gas chamber or hike the Reaper, but she earned the title Marine just the same.
And that, my friends, is something every Marine ought to know.
Semper Fi!
