FIRST SERGEANT MAJOR OF WOMEN MARINES
Bertha L. Peters was reportedly born on July 25, 1922 in California and joined the Marine Corps on March 5, 1943. She served on continuous active duty at Headquarters Marine Corps in the Division of Aviation throughout World War II until discharged in December 1945 following the end of the war. On November 10, 1948 she was one of the first eight enlisted women marines to be sworn into the regular Marine Corps following enactment of the 1948 Women’s Armed Forces Integration Act. In February 1949 then GYSGT Peters became the Battalion Chief Clerk for the newly organized 3rd Recruit Training Battalion at Parris Island and later became the Sergeant Major of the Woman Marines Officer Training Command. This was followed by assignments at Pearl Harbor and return to Parris Island.
In 1959 Peters was selected and assigned to the senior enlisted woman Marine billet in the Office of the Director of Woman Marines. She was selected for promotion in 1961 and redesignated as Sergeant Major as the first Sergeant Major of Women Marines, a billet she held from January 18, 1961 to November 13, 1963. After her marriage in 1962 to Gunnery Sergeant William N. Billeb she joined her husband at Quantico and was assigned for the second time as Sergeant Major, Women Officers Training. In 1966 after her husband had been promoted to warrant officer (temporary) she accepted promotion to warrant officer (temporary) and was transferred to her third tour of duty with the Woman Recruit Training Battalion, Parris Island, where she was assigned to the billet of Battalion Adjutant. In 1979 the Billebs, both commissioned officers, reverted to their permanent ranks. Master Sergeant Bertha Billeb was transferred to Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton. She was redesignated to permanent Sergeant Major in 1972 when all women Marines who held that rank were given permanent warrants. At this time the Billebs were the only husband-wife Sergeant Major team in the Marine Corps. In 1973, SGTMAJ Bertha Billeb, being the first woman to complete 30 years of active duty, was retired with honors at Camp Pendleton. She requested and was placed on the retired list as a commissioned warrant officer.
Bertha Peters Billeb died in Boulder City, Nevada, on December 22, 2012 and is interred at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City next to her husband, SGTMAJ William James Billeb, who predeceased her in 2006. Her memorial marker carries the inscription: SGTMAJ - USMC - WORLD WAR II - KOREA - VIETNAM.
Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)
