Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Air Force is mourning the death of Oregon native, Major General Jeanne Holm.  She was a trailblazer for women in the Armed Forces. April Baer reports.

Jeanne Holm was born in Portland in 1921.  She made a beeline for the service in the years leading up to World War II.

The fact that the military didn’t have a organizational structure for female service members didn’t stop her.

In this taped interview from the Library of Congress, Holm talked about how women were looking for ways to serve, in the late 30s.

Jeanne Holm  “Throughout the country there were a number of women’s ambulance corps being organized, and one of them was the Oregon Women’s Ambulance Corp. I joined this and learned infantry drill, we had uniforms, we learned how to drive trucks, I taught a course actually, in the theory of the  internal combustion engine.... (laughs)”

Holm went on to serve during World War II. She returned to Oregon afterward to study at Lewis and Clark College.

In 1971, Holm became the first woman to achieve the rank of General, and influenced a vast expansion of Air Force assignments for women. She died last month in Annapolis, Maryland.  Holm was 88.