Most Senior Woman Retires From Marines

Marines said farewell to the most senior enlisted woman on active duty in any branch of the military in a retirement ceremony Wednesday at the Marine Corps Air Station here.

During her 30-year career with the Marines, Sgt. Major Sylvia D. Walters reached the highest rank of any enlisted woman serving the Department of Defense, Marine spokesmen said. Since 1992, she has held the top enlisted post for all Marine air bases in the Western United States.

“You have successfully blazed a trail for generations of women Marines,” Maj. Gen. P.A. Fratarangelo told Walters after handing her the Legion of Merit medal on behalf of President Clinton, who also sent a note of congratulations.

Driving rains had sent the guests into one of the base’s enormous hangars. Inside, the Third Marine Aircraft Wing Band and two platoons of Marines marched across the scuffed floor as a prelude to the traditional passing of the sword from Walters to the new commander, Sgt. Major Vaughn D. Dietsch.

Along with the usual renditions of “Grand Old Flag,” “Stars and Stripes” and “Halls of Montezuma,” the band played “Auld Lang Syne” for Walters, 49.

She stood with a straight back before a crowd that included astronaut Brig. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr. and other dignitaries. Gen. Charles C. Krulak, commandant of the Marine Corps, also sent his congratulations.

But Walters spent most of her brief speech thanking the band, the chaplain, her secretary and other “people who are not recognized enough, as far as I’m concerned.”

“I’ve had a lot of opportunities,” she told the crowd of her career in the Corps. “I hope you have the good time that I have had. . . . We’ve shared heartbreak and camaraderie. You’ve touched me, and I’ll always carry you in my heart.

Those attending roundly commended her for her professional and forthright manner, which was tempered with fairness and concern for individual Marines.

Capt. James Schulz, who worked with Walters on the base, and said he was struck by her attention to each person under her command.

“Anything that came up, from court martial on, she was always asking, ‘How is the Marine? How can we help?’ But she didn’t make any distinction of being a woman first; she’s a sergeant major first,” he said.