CULPEPER, Va. -- A woman from Culpeper who helped break the glass ceiling in the U.S. Marines during World War II has died.
Virginia Walczak, who was one of 19,000 female Marines who served in the Corps during the 1940s, died at the age of 102 on Jan. 21.
Sgt. Walczak followed in her the footsteps of her father, William Jasper Tye. He also served in the Marines during World War I.
"Virginia excelled at everything she did - being a Marine, a wife, mother, educator, Christian and volunteer throughout her life," reads her obituary.
The proud Marine is survived by her three children and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will take place Jan. 30 at Fairfax Memorial Park, according to her obituary.
When the military needed to fill the ranks during World War II, there was only one branch that mattered for Walczak because of her father.
“I thought about it. I knew if I did join I would join the Marine Corps for sure,” Walczak said. "I felt like I was in my little corner doing my little bit."
Allowing women to join the military freed men to fight. Women served as mechanics, truck drivers, pilots and instructors.
“You become a dedicated Marine right away,” Walczak recalled. “There was no question about it.”
The Corps tested her physical limits.
”All of the marching and all of that. Sometimes you felt like your legs were going to fall off because you over marched,” Walczak remembered.
The sergeant taught journalism to Marines fighting overseas through a correspondence class at the Marine Corps Institute.
“It was helping them get the credits to finish high school. It was also a morale booster and feel that there is another life out there,” Walczak said.
When assignments did not return, Walczak's heart filled with dread.
“You often wonder what happened to him," Walczak said. "Sometimes they quit taking the course, but other times I’m sure it was more disastrous than that. That became hard on the nerves at times."
Owen Conner, the chief curator at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, said allowing women to join the military was out of necessity.
“Every Marine has a green uniform. Every Marine has a blue uniform. But behind that uniform is an individual with a story to be told,” Conner said. “Women Marines were reluctantly accepted into the Marine Corps. Their premise as a woman reservist was to free a Marine to fight.”
Conner believes Wolczak is national treasure and pioneer who broke new ground.
”I’m absolutely thrilled," Conner said. "The Greatest Generation — the term gets used perhaps a little too much. But in my heart they were the Greatest Generation, they were my grandparents. It will be a sad day when we don’t have people like her among us still.”
Following World War II, she married a fellow Marine and had three children.
”It was exciting. There were exciting times,” Wolczak said. ”Yeah right off the bat I was satisfied with what I did and I put my whole self into it.”
She earned her masters in education and pursued a teaching career. The veteran turned 102 years old in November.
“No. I can’t believe I’m still alive," she admitted. " Yes, I still made it over the hump.”
Wolczak served during a time of war while breaking glass ceilings along the way.
”I felt like there was pride in it and I wanted to live up to those standards,” she said.
The veteran remained a Marine to the Corps all while marching in her father’s footsteps.
“Oh there is no question about it. He would have been proud, yeah,” Walczak said. “Well, like they say, ‘Once a Marine, always a Marine. Semper Fi.'”
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