28 May 1980, 55 women became the first female graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy. These excerpts are from interviews with six class members, conducted when they were lieutenants, for a U.S. Naval Institute oral history volume to be completed later this year.
Recruitment
The Academy did a fine job recruiting smart, strong, determined women for our class. There were many, however, who didn't have an athletic background—and they were in trouble. Some had literally never run as an adult. I had tremendous admiration for these gals, because they learned to get the job done. -Chrystal Lewis Campbell, pilot, Delta Airlines
We were shown hygiene films during plebe summer that looked like they were from the 1950s. I remember one line: "Well now, girls, don't worry about the rumors you've heard about tampons. You can use them and still be a virgin." We died! We were absolutely rolling on the floor because we'd never heard that before. . . . I kept thinking, "Is this what they showed the men? No wonder they look at us as if we were a different species." -Commander Sandy L. Daniels, U.S. Naval Reserve
Civilian Reaction
From the very first day, tourists would point and say, "There's one"—it was unnerving. On the other hand, many times during the four years we'd go out in town and treat ourselves to a big dinner and when it came time for the check, someone had already paid it. -Maureen Foley Nunez, Executive Vice President, Netifex Financial Systems
Media
While I was home for Christmas plebe year, our local newspaper asked for an interview. My mother wanted me to do it, because the paper had given her garden club publicity. I initially begged off, but my mom persisted. The reporter asked questions I considered benign and I answered as best I could. The article wound up in The Chicago Tribune. Everything I said had been distorted to cast the Academy in the worst possible light. It was pretty awful. When I came back to Annapolis, the article was plastered on bulletin boards and I received hate mail. I stayed away from the press from then on. -Dr. Pamela Wacek Svendsen, MD
We hated when they'd have all-women meetings because it brought attention to us. The last thing we needed was attention—mainly because of the press. We were very much afraid, overall, to gather as a group. It was like pulling teeth to get us together for a group picture on graduation day. -Commander Tina M. D'Ercole, U.S. Navy
Uniforms
None of the uniforms fit when we arrived . . . In order to get the shoulders right, they wouldn't go over our hips. They bunched up around our waists. The sleeves and pant legs hung about six inches long. Before the induction ceremony, my squad leader made me stand on a desk while he stapled new hems. -Maureen Foley Nunez
After I graduated, a non-Academy female officer asked me why I wore my belt clip on the wrong side. I said, "That's the way we were taught." She had the regs that showed we were wrong. The Academy had taught us to dress our belts like men. -Commander Barbette Henry Lowndes, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy
Camaraderie Among the Women
For the most part, I think there was a strong bond among my female classmates and a lot of trying to help each other. Yet if any woman did something that reflected badly, it was a problem. That woman might be the only one a male midshipman ever got to know. If she was a bad representative, it reflected on us all. -Maureen Foley Nunez
I don't believe there was a feeling of camaraderie among the women in my class while we were at the Academy. It was so competitive, and we made such an effort to be accepted that there was a lot of jealousy. If you could get an "in," you wanted to keep it to yourself. I don't know why that happened, but it kept us apart. When subsequent women came along, I remember thinking—and I know it's stupid—that I didn't want to get buddy-buddy with them. They thought they had an in—that we'd take the big-sister role. I didn't like that. I felt they had to earn their place in the hierarchy. -Dr. Pamela Wacek Svendsen
Initially, women were going to have to buy the same miniature class rings the guys got for their fiancees. Oh, that did not go over well! We wanted our own rings—that only women midshipmen could have—and we got them. -Chrystal Lewis Campbell
Combat Restrictions
Just before starting classes in our second-class year, . . . they sat us down and said, "Look, gals, we really don't know. Congress hasn't decided about women on ships. We don't know if you can fly jets. We don't know if you can go restricted line and staff corps, because you have to be `not physically qualified."' Well, I'm NPQ because I'm not a male! Why should I commit to two more years at the Academy plus five years in the fleet if I can't know where I'm going? I don't think any of the gals opted out then, but it was a tough choice. -Commander Barbette Henry Lowndes
Interactions with Male Midshipmen
I never saw this, but I heard that one female plebe discovered sanitary pads were great for polishing shoes and belt buckles. When it came time for room inspection, there was a neatly folded pad with Brasso stains under the sink. The upperclassman thought this was appalling, but didn't quite know how to handle it. The girl handed out pads to all the company plebes—male and female—and by the next inspection everyone had pads under their sink. -Commander Sandy L. Daniels
There were men who came up to me at the end of plebe year and said that I'd made an impression. Maybe they still felt women shouldn't be in combat, but I'd proven to them that women could, in fact, handle the Academy. -Commander Tina M. D'Ercole