Twin Cities PBS

I Never Thought I'd Go Down in History for This

"When a Marine recruiter promised me the world, I believed him." Valerie Barber was the first Native American woman to finish mechanic school in the Marine Corps. "I was put in that school as an experiment because they wanted to see if women could handle the military occupational specialities that were closed to them at that time." Unfortunately, for Valerie and her female colleagues, "The Marine Corps was not very welcoming to the women."

She says that the male Marines didn't recognize that the women had had the same training that they had had. She was very surprised to receive a letter inviting her to President Obama's inauguration because she says, "I never thought I'd go down in history for this." Valerie's story is featured in the TPT documentary, The People's Protectors, an exploration of four Native American Vietnam-era veterans from Minnesota.