 My name is Annie Graham Gilmour. I was the first Black woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps on September the 8th, 1949. Boot Camp was tough, but we survived. We survived heat, humidity, mosquitoes, and the ever-present Jim Crow. After graduating Boot Camp, we were full-fledged Marines and ready to take on the world. My duty station was USMC headquarters Washington, D.C. There I worked in several positions, personnel department, publications department, and special orders. I am proud to have been a Marine. It was a pleasure and privilege to serve my country. It's her handwriting. That's what I like best about it. My mother was a very patriotic person, so she was a patriot. She was proud to have served Marines. She was courageous to decide to go and do what she did, to enlist first off in a man's world. You know, back then it was a man's world. When you think about it, that was a different time. It was a very different time in the world. Now it's so different from what they can do just about any job, the same job as most men can do. Honor, courage, and commitment, that was her.