Little-Known Black History Fact: Gail Harris
From the time she was five years old, when she watched the WWII film, “Wing and a Prayer,” alongside her military father, Gail Harris knew she wanted to be in Navy intelligence, a position never held by a woman before. So, in 1973, Harris became the first woman in Naval history to serve as an intelligence officer in a U.S. Navy aviation squadron. During the Cold War, the war on El Salvador, Desert Storm, Kosovo and on issues of cyber warfare, the Navy looked to Harris’ extraordinary service to get the job done. Raised in the projects of Newark, New Jersey, Harris took on Navy Officer Candidate School after obtaining a degree at Drew University. She would initially be assigned as a female test case in the Navy Officer school and was the first woman – and black woman – on all of her assignments. As a pioneer, she endured discrimination along the way from professors and other officers, but she successful passed her tests. After serving in Air Intelligence, Harris was removed from her assignment in Hawaii and sent to South Korea to head up the Defense Department intelligence support for the 1988 Olympics. In the years ahead, she served as Central Command’s lead during war games such as Internal Look, Blue Flag and Roving Sands. She was also called to head up the Navy’s Iraqi Crisis Action Cell and Intelligence Watch Center. Hand selected for many assignments, Harris was summoned by the director of Naval Intelligence and commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command to fill the position of acting Naval attache’ in Egypt, making her the first woman to serve in this capacity in the Middle East. When she retired, Harris was the highest-ranking black woman in the Navy. She has since written a book about her experience called "A Woman’s War: The Professional and Personal Journey of the Navy’s First African-American Female Intelligence Officer." In the book, she talks about dealing with Graves disease, depression, her weight and being the target of an investigation for security violations.
Little Known Navy History Facts - Bookshelf
Naval history. War of 1812, pamphlet collection]
365 THE AMERICAN NAVAL WAR, 1812. WITHIN the last few months there was published in London a ... The last-named publication is but little known in England, ...The naval history of Great Britain, from the declaration of war by France in 1793 to the accession of George IV
NAVAL HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. ... the force and qualifications of a class of ship, little known in Europe, ...Charlestown Navy Yard
The photographs in this exciting new volume illustrate the history of the Charlestown Navy Yard from the late nineteenth century through the twentieth century.The Nation
Nothing strikes one so forcibly on reading these opening events of the Revolution as the ... Historical Sketch of the United Slates Naval Academy. By Prof. ...Studies in naval history, Biographies
... becomes, to the naval officer, a study of rjal and technical importance. ... which — in this country at least — little or nothing is accurately known. ...Daily News Directory
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