Opha Mae Johnson

Today in History 08/13 (Berlin Wall)

Two East German workers put pieces of broken glass on the top of the Berlin wall in August 1961 (© Kreusch/AP)(1961) East is sealed off from West in a divided capital
While the city sleeps, Soviet-backed East German soldiers begin erecting a barbed-wire barrier in Berlin, making solid what’s been for 15 years a geopolitical split within Germany’s capital. Transit between communist East Berlin and capitalist West Berlin is now strictly verboten.
The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic, starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and was completed in 1992. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area that contained anti-vehicle trenches, “fakir beds” and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the Wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the “will of the people” in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that had marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
Address: Zimmer Street 88 · 10117 Berlin
Phone: 030 3087770
Construction started: Aug 13, 1961
Destroyed: Nov 09, 1989
Berlin Wall Map
Map of the Berlin Wall, showing checkpoints.

wiki/Berlin_Wall
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(1961) East is sealed off from West in a divided capital.
Also on this day,

1521 | Conquistadors capture capital city of the Aztecs
Conquistador Hernán Cortés and his troops have laid siege to Tenochtitlan for more than two months and now the Aztec empire’s sprawling capital surrenders. European military might, combined with a smallpox epidemic brought by the invading Spaniards, dooms what will become Mexico City.
1624 | France’s ‘Red Eminence’ gets a prime royal appointment
French clergyman Armand Jean du Plessis rose through Church ranks with impressive speed, becoming Cardinal Richelieu two years ago, and he’s now appointed King Louis XIII’s chief minister. Richelieu will hold considerable power and dodge some very wily conspiracies launched against him.
1918 | US Marines enlist their first female recruit
Her country embroiled in World War I, 39-year-old Opha Johnson is first in line to enlist at the US Marine Corps Reserves, becoming the first female Marine in history. More than 300 other women will follow Johnson’s lead and serve as Marines during the war, paving the way for future women in the US military.

Today in History 08/13/17

Newly recruited Marine Opha Johnson at Marine Corps headquarters in Washington, DC (© Marine Corps Women's Marine Reserve/Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections)(1918) US Marines enlist their first female recruit
Her country embroiled in World War I, 39-year-old Opha Johnson is first in line to enlist at the US Marine Corps Reserves, becoming the first female Marine in history. More than 300 other women will follow Johnson's lead and serve as Marines during the war, paving the way for future women in the US military.
Opha May Johnson was the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. She joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1918, officially becoming the first female Marine.
Born: 1879 · Indiana, Midwestern United States
Died: Aug 11, 1955 · Washington, D.C., United States
Buried: Rock Creek Cemetery
Highlights
  • 1898: Historical records identify she married Victor H. Johnson on 20 December 1898 at the Sixth Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC.

  • 1918: According to 1918 newspaper articles, as well as the published history of Women Marines in World War I, Johnson's first duties were as a clerk at Marine Corps headquarters, managing the records of other female reservists who joined after she did.

  • 1955: Opha May Johnson died on Thursday, 11 August 1955, at Mount Alto Veterans Hospital in Washington, D.C.

wiki/Opha_May_Johnson
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