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Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

This is a story of a Marine, the first female Marine.

Her name, Afa May Johnson.

It was close to the end of World War I when the Marine Corps decided to fill some of the gaps

left behind by all the men fighting overseas. In 1918, Johnson was one of 300 women who showed up to take one of those jobs.

Women weren't even allowed to vote at the time. Johnson was born in Kokomo, Indiana, and she was a

rapid fire typist. She was working in the Interstate Commerce Commission when the Marines issued that call for help.

Johnson was literally the first one in line.

She took a job clerking at the Marine Corps headquarters in Arlington.

Even though they were clerks, the women had to train and drill just like other Marines.

Drill sergeants made their displeasure clear, calling the women marinettes.

That's according to Linda L. Hewitt's book, Women Marines in World War I.

The female Marines were not amused by the nickname.

In a letter included in Hewitt's book, one of the female Marines wrote,

Isn't it funny? The minute a girl becomes a regular fellow,

somebody always tries to queer it by calling her something else.

She added, well, anybody that calls me anything but Marine is going to hear from me.

The women were all in, but their time in the Marines was brief.

After the end of World War I,

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