Jeanette I. Sustad

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Jeanette I. Sustad
1922 – February 5, 1978
6th Director of Women Marines (1969-1973)
Place of birth	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1943-1973
Rank	Colonel
Commands held	Director of Women Marines
Awards	Legion of Merit

Colonel Jeanette I. Sustad, USMC (1922-1978) was sixth Director of Women Marines from 1969 until her retirement in 1973, for which she was awarded the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious performance of outstanding service.

1 Education
2 Marine Corps career
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Education

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she moved with her parents at an early age to Tacoma, Washington. She graduated from Stadium High School in Tacoma, and earned a B.A. degree in sociology at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1943.

[edit] Marine Corps career

Colonel Sustad joined the Marine Corps on 8 May 1943, just three months after the Marine Corps began to accept women for enlistment in the new Women’s Reserve Program. She received officer training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and was commissioned a Reserve second lieutenant on 27 December 1943. Her first assignment was as Field Operations Officer at the Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Facility, Oak Grove, North Carolina. In May 1945, she was assigned as Communications Watch Officer at the Marine Corps Air Station, Oahu, Hawaii, and served in that capacity until she was assigned to inactive duty status in December 1945.

Following demobilization, she spent a year in graduate study at the University of Minnesota and was employed as a Veterans Counselor by the U.S. Employment Services in Tacoma, Washington.

Upon passage of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act in 1948, she accepted a regular commission as a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps and reported to Headquarters Marine Corps in December 1948.

Transferred to Parris Island, South Carolina, in January 1949, she served as Executive Officer of the newly-formed Women’s Recruit Captain Sustad was then named Monitor in the Staff Message Control Branch, Headquarters, United States European Command, Frankfurt, Germany. After her promotion to major in July 1953, she became Assistant Head of the Branch. In the spring of 1954, the Headquarters was moved to Paris, France, and Major Sustad continued her assignment there.

Upon her return to the United States in September 1954, she subsequently served as Executive Officer of the Women’s Recruit Training Battalion, Parris Island, followed by tours as Officer in Charge of Procurement Aids Branch, Headquarters, 9th Marine Corps District, Chicago, Illinois; Assistant to the Executive Officer and Plans Officer, G-1 Division, Headquarters Marine Corps; and as Operations Officer of the Marine Corps Educational Center, Quantico. She was promoted to lieutenant colonel in September 1962 while stationed at Headquarters Marine Corps.

LtCol Sustad became the first full-time Deputy Director of Women Marines in July 1965, and served in this capacity until November 1967. From December 1967 to January 1969, she served as Assistant G-1, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton. She was promoted to her final rank on 11 April 1968.

She served as Director of Women Marines from 1969 until retiring from active duty on 31 January 1973. She had received the Legion of Merit from the Commandant of the Marine Corps, in retirement ceremonies held at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., for exceptionally meritorious performance of outstanding service as Director of Women Marines from February 1969 through January 1973.

Sustad died on February 5, 1978