New Milford’s Veronica Bradley — One of the First Female Marines

The year was 1942 when New Milford's Veronica "Ronnie" Bradley enlisted in the Marines, right before her 20th birthday.

Ronnie was 95-years-old when she passed away on the evening of February 25th, according to a recent article in the NewsTimes. She was one of the first 25 female Marines recruited for the Marine Corp's Women's Reserve in 1942. Ronnie's photo standing in front of a WWII warplane dressed in her Marine hat and uniform was actually the subject of a recruitment poster similar to the one shown above.

Ronnie was interviewed back in November by the NewsTimes and had this to say about her time in the Marines:

I had a sense of being a good American. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Ronnie was stationed at an air base in Santa Barbara where she repaired airplanes and will be honored in a ceremony later this month for her legacy of service. Her ashes will lie at Arlington National Cemetery. Thank you, Veronica Bradley, for your service.

Now, flash forward to January of 2017, and three Marines out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina became the first female Marines to be assigned to a combat unit as a rifleman, machine gunner, and mortar marine.

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