Frances Keegan Marquis

Frances Keegan Marquis dedicated her career to fighting for opportunities for women, on and off the battlefield.

Born in 1896 in West Newbury, Mass., Marquis graduated high school at age 14; she had to wait a year to enroll at Simmons College, where she eventually graduated as the youngest in her class. She climbed the ranks in women’s suffrage organizations in New York, and served as the first manager of The Town Hall, a meeting space for suffragists.

In 1942, Marquis volunteered as a Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) officer, part of a wave of educated, mid-
career women who volunteered for such roles. Commanders tapped her to lead the 149th WAAC Post Headquarters Company, which, in January 1943, became the first company of American women sent to an active war front. 

Assigned to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s headquarters in North Africa, the women filled roles from secretarial work to driving — the women were said to be more efficient at the switchboard than their male counterparts.

Marquis returned home in 1943 with a new, PR-friendly nickname, Captain Courageous.

— James Bikales