One of first five women to be stationed at NAVCOMSTA Ponce Puerto, Rico 1974-1975

Pataskala, OH

We had just finished our schooling, for me it was Radiomen "A" school in Bainbridge, MD. We all arrived about the same time and week. We were all just new to the Navy. Apparently we were new to the Naval station also because we had no barracks to live in when we got there. They put all of us up in a lounge area of a barracks they had emptied. We stayed in the lounge for about 5 weeks until they finished remodeling our barracks. When they were finished they had build the nicest barracks. The ones we were in in Bainbridge were the old two story type with little cubicles in them. These were a great upgrade to those. When we arrived we noticed some hostility from the men that we were there. One time at the mess hall, I went back in line to ask for seconds and the cook graciously complied. The next day I found out that I had caused quite an occurrence because some of the men asked for seconds and were denied, so they immediately reacted. After a while the men were ok. It was very hard to work with some of the men. My immediate supervisor kept asking me out and when I refused he would find other work for me to do. I did my job, I was a Radiomen and loved the job. This was very unfair. Another time a Lieutenant invited me to a party, I didn't know where it was going to be. He took me to his barracks and started to try and molest me. Since I was kinda older than most of the girls, I was 20, I knew he shouldn't do this. I went home and tried to forget the whole thing. I didn't report it because I felt it was my fault just as much because I should have known better. A few days later our new Chief Petty Officer Kehoe came to me and asked me if I knew anything about the Officer that did things like that. I wasn't going to say anything but I found out that he had done the same thing to other women in the station and that my testimony would help a lot. It seems like he may have raped one of the women on base. He was immediately sent some where else.

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