Our first Military Diva of the Week for the New Year is former United States Marine Corps Captain Vernice “Flygirl” Armour, who became the Marine’s first African-American female Naval Aviator as well as our Country’s first African-American female combat pilot.
A native of Chicago, IL, Vernice Armour was born into a military family. Her father, Gaston Armour, Jr. retired as a MAJ in the Army Reserves, while her step-father, Clarence Jackson, served three tours in Vietnam as a Marine. Armour’s grandfather also served in the Marine Corps during World War II as a Montford Point Marine—a segregated unit that contained the first Black men in the Corps.
In 1993, while a student at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), Armour enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve and later entered into the U.S. Army’s ROTC. During her time in Nashville, Vernice joined the Nashville Police Force and became their first African-American female to join their motorcycle squad. After graduation at MTSU in 1997, Armour became the first African American female to serve as a police officer in Tempe, Arizona before joining the U.S. Marines as an Officer Candidate in October 1998.
After commissioning as a 2nd Lieutenant, Armour went to the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, TX for flight school. Graduating top of her class, Armour earned her flight wings in July 2001, becoming the Marine Corps’ first African-American female pilot. In 2003, Capt Armour would later fly a HMLA-169 during the invasion of Iraq, becoming America’s first African-American female combat pilot. She completed two combat tours in the Gulf afterwards.
Let’s ring in the New Year by celebrating this amazing Military Diva!
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