On March 2, 1944, Golda enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in Seattle, Washington and left for boot camp in North Carolina on April 28th. Before she enlisted, she was a lead girl in the payroll department at Boeing Aircraft Co. She didn't feel like she was doing enough to help the war effort in her job. Since she has always been competitive, she felt as though if she was going into the service, then she might as well go into the one with the highest requirements and was the most difficult to get into.
Boot camp training was not nearly as vigorous as that of women Marines today, but it was formidable. Her boot camp was full of classes on military protocol, military history, history of the Marine Corps, close order drill and physical endurance training. After her two week stint on mess duty, Golda was assigned to US Marine Corps Base in San Diego, California where she went to Sound Motion Picture Technician's School at US NAVTRACEN - Naval Training Center - on the Navy base which was adjacent to the Marine Corps base.
She graduated from SMPTS and was placed on standby while waiting for further orders. Eventually, she was assigned to the US Marine Corps Air Depot at Miramar, CA. The SMPT duties were already filled upon her arrival, so she was assigned to the directory service in the base post office which is where she worked until discharge on November 23, 1945. While there, she had to re-address the mail to reach the recipient, it was very important that the mail reached the men overseas rapidly, as the mail was a morale booster.
While stationed in San Diego, she tried out for and made the drill team, where she practiced many hours on the parade ground. At Miramar, there was a women's pistol team that was formed with the idea that other bases would also form teams and they would have competition. The instructors, male Marines, were not very happy about having to coach women Marines, that idea didn't get very far. She was disappointed as she says she was a pretty good shot and was looking forward to being in competition.
She was promoted to the rank PFC on September 13, 1945, and very much enjoyed her tour of duty in the Marines. "It was one of the best times of my life and the pride I felt in wearing the Marine Corps uniform is indescribable."
Golda has always loved travel and went to Hungary at least nine times, and also went to Holland, England, and Spain. She is a part of the Women's Marine Association and American Legion. She now lives in Portland, Oregon close to two of her three children.
