Mary Smith Felton is an Army veteran who served during a time of massive change and remains grateful for the opportunity.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There are many career paths within the different branches of the military, and many of them don’t involve shooting or even holding a gun. In this week’s Stories of Service, we meet a woman who served in the Army during a time of massive change and remains grateful for the opportunity.
“I don’t even remember who this girl was,” joked Mary Smith Felton while holding a picture from the 1950s of her and a fellow soldier.
A time to remember life from generations ago. Nearly 70 years have passed since Smith Felton was a Corporal in the Army. At 90 years young, her life was shaped by being in the service.
“Oh my goodness gracious, I guess everything I got in life I got from the Army,” said Smith Felton, “they sent me to school, I went to clerical school in Fort Dix, New Jersey.”
While Smith Felton never experienced combat in the Army when she served from 1952 to 1954, she experienced a different fight.
“Back then the military was segregated,” said Smith Felton, “at Fort Dix it was segregated, an all-Black unit.”
President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981 in 1948 to mandate desegregation of the military, but the last Army segregated united was not dissolved until six years later in 1954; the same year Smith Felton left the Army.
But all these years later, she doesn’t hold any ill feelings, in fact, she’s grateful that the military trained her to be a typist.
“Being in the military and not being able to make a mistake, I learned how to be a good typist,” said Smith Felton, “in all the jobs in Jacksonville I’ve had I’m the best typist they ever had, so I have to give everything I’ve accomplished in life to the military.”
A life well lived. Thank you to Mary Smith Felton for her service and if you have a Story of Service that you would like First Coast News to profile, send us an email to storiesofservice@firstcoastnews.com
