1LT, US Marine Corps, Margaret Helen “Peggy” Schneider Gerety

At the age of twenty, Peggy Schneider (Gerety) became the youngest woman from Nevada to enlist in the Marine Corps during World War II. ^{1, 2}  She entered basic training at Hunter College in New York City and was transferred to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for quartermaster school. ^{3, 4}  On December 27, 1943, she become the youngest female officer commissioned in the Corps. ⁴ In the spring of 1944, while stationed at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California she met her future husband, Lt. Edward Joseph Gerety, a fighter pilot from Shelton, Connecticut. ²

Schneider was born in Joliet, Illinois, the only child of Frederick Roberts Schneider and Helen Cecilia (Riley) Schneider. Her father’s work as a machinist with Burroughs Equipment Company provided the family a living through the Depression but required numerous moves. The family lived in Chicago, Illinois, Albany, New York, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Reno, Nevada and Los Angeles, California. ² Her obituary states that the frequent moves made Schneider “the perennial newcomer,” such that the family dog was her “constant companion and closest friend.” ² In high school, living in Reno, she got her own horse, Comanche. ² By the time Schneider graduated from Reno High School in 1940, she was an expert equestrian. ²

On September 4, 1945, she married Edward Gerety at Camp Pendleton Chapel. ² With their seven children, the family moved to New Mexico, and Schneider returned to school to study art history. She volunteered for the League of Women Voters, working on water and land issues in New Mexico. ² She became one of the founding members of the Juan Tomas Hounds, and rode horses regularly into her 80s. ² In her obituary, her family wrote of her, “Those lucky enough to count Peggy as a friend invariably felt better for the experience, something they demonstrated by staying connected throughout their lives. Indeed, Peggy was the last survivor of a group of eight friends, the “D8,” that started when she was in 8th grade and kept in touch for over eight decades.” ²