Air Force, DOD Pioneer, First Woman Air Force Major
General
The first woman to serve as major general in the Air Force,
and the Department of Defense, passed away February 15.
Retired Maj. Gen. Jeanne M. Holm (pictured, right) is credited
as the single driving force in achieving parity for military women
and making them a viable part of the mainstream military.
The Portland, OR, native attained the rank of two-star general
in 1973 after a career that began 31 years earlier in 1942 when she
enlisted in the Army. General Holm entered Women's Army Air Corps
in January 1943 where she received a commission as third officer,
the WAAC equivalent of second lieutenant.
General Holm also became the first woman to attend the Air
Command and Staff School, Maxwell Air Force Base, AL, in 1952.
She was promoted to brigadier general July 16, 1971, the first
female Airman to be appointed in this grade. She was promoted to
the grade of major general effective June 1, 1973, with date of
rank July 1, 1970 - the first woman in the armed forces to serve in
that grade.
In recognition of General Holm's pioneering career, Air Force
officials renamed the Air Force Officer Accession and Training
Schools at Maxwell AFB the Jeanne M. Holm Officer Accession and
Citizen Development Center in June 2008. Its mission is Air Force
officer recruitment and training within the Air University.
General Holm was also an author of two books about women in
the military. "Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution"
came out in 1982 and was updated in 1994. Four years later she
wrote "In Defense of a Nation: Servicewomen in World War II."
During World War II, General Holm was assigned to the Women's
Army Corps Training Center at Fort Oglethorpe, GA, where she first
commanded a basic training company and then a training regiment. At
the end of the war, she commanded the 106th WAC Hospital Company at
Newton D. Baker General Hospital, WV She then left active military
duty in 1946.
In October 1948 during the Berlin crisis, she was recalled to
active duty with the Army and went to Camp Lee, VA, as a company
commander. The following year she transferred to the Air Force,
when a new law integrated women in the regular armed forces.
General Holm served in a variety of personnel assignments,
including director of Women in the Air Force from 1965 to 1973. She
played a significant role in eliminating restrictions on numbers of
women serving in all ranks, expanding job and duty station
assignments for women, opening ROTC and service academies to women,
and changing the policies on the status of women in the armed
forces. During her tenure, policies affecting women were updated,
WAF strength more than doubled, job and assignment opportunities
expanded, and uniforms modernized.
The general retired in 1975. She served three presidential
administrations: special assistant on women for President Gerald
Ford, policy consultant for President James Carter and first
chairperson of the Veterans Administration's Committee on Women
Veterans for President Ronald Reagan.