From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (African American Women Veterans in and from Kentucky)

Leachman, Marilyn

(born: June 18, 1928 - died: June 13, 1999)

Subject

Women's Army Corps (WACs)

Nurses

Military and Veterans

U.S. Army

Military Branch

Women's Army Corps

Active Duty Entered

November 18, 1948

Active Duty Exit

October 30, 1951

Notes

Marilyn Leachman was born in Springfield, KY, the daughter of Louise Leachman Wright Rucker. She enlisted in the WAC in 1948. She was one of 62 African American WACs doing basic training at the Women's Army Corp Training Center at Camp Lee, VA. The women were the first company of "Regular" Army Negro WACS at the camp. Marilyn Leachman and Eddie S. Cox from Maysville were the only WACS in the company from Kentucky.

After her military service, Marilyn Leachman returned home. She filed for a divorce from Alonzo Jackson in Louisville, KY in 1951. She was employed in 1956 as an elevator operator at Jefferson Dry Goods there. When she died in Louisville in 1999, she was said to have been a retired nurse. She is buried in Green Meadows Memorial Cemetery in Louisville.

Sources: "62 Women soldiers studying leadership: Regular Army's first race Wacs in training," The Pittsburgh Courier, 12/25/1948, p. 14; U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index (Ancestry); U.S. Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File (Ancestry); Caron's Louisville (Jefferson County, KY.) City Directory, 1956, p. 660; "City and county statistics," The Courier-Journal, 11/21/1951, section 2, p. 16; "Louisville Area Deaths: Marilyn Leachman," The Courier-Journal, 6/16/1999, p. 8; and Marilyn Leachman at Find A Grave.