Page 93 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2023 - Online Magazine

navy
desert storM
desert shield

getting out of the service, the couple
chose to live in Murrieta, CA. “It was
too humid there, so I started researching
towns in Texas. We didn’t want to live
in a large city. We tried Waco, but that
didn’t work out. When we took a trip to
Lubbock, it felt like being in Australia
– dry. People here were friendly, and
I said, ‘Hey, this could work.’ We had
a house built in a subdivision that was
just getting started. We like it here. I’m a
contract laborer, and my job takes me all
over the world. I like coming back to my
own home.”
Mary stays active in many military
organizations such as the Fleet Reserve
Association, Military Women Across
Fleet Logistics Support Squadron VR-55 and moved the Nation, American Legion, Women
to NAS Alameda/Moffett Field in Alameda, CA. In Veterans of America Hub City Chapter 53 and is a
January 1991, I was sent to Sembach Air Force Base charter member of the Military Women’s Memorial in
in Germany for mobilization for Desert Shield/Desert Arlington, VA. The memorial opened its doors in 1997
Storm, where I remained until the end of March.” and seeks to register and “honor all women who have
defended the nation—from the American Revolution
In October 1986, the 6919th Electronic Security to the present.”
Squadron (ESS) was activated at Sembach. The unit
supported the 43rd Electronic Surveillance Squadron Mary Catherine is one of more than three million
(who piloted the aircraft) and provided electronic women who have served our country since the
combat operations during Operation Desert Storm. Revolutionary War. She went on the Texas South
The 6919 ESS flew its last operational mission on Plains Honor Flight in May 2022, and the Women’s
April 25, 1991. Around 697,000 Allied troops took Memorial was her favorite stop. Thirty years of
part in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. By the end of service in the U.S. Navy from the Vietnam to Desert
Desert Storm, 500,000 U.S. troops had been deployed Storm eras and beyond have earned her the right to
to Saudi Arabia, with 292 losing their lives. be honored along with all the others at the beautiful
monument in our nation’s capital.
Mary was assigned to the Naval Fleet Reserve in
May 1994 in San Diego. She remained in inactive
reserve until retiring in September 1999 with 30 years
of Naval Service. She achieved the rank of Yeoman
1st Class, Petty Officer E-6 and received numerous
medals and ribbons for her service. “I attended the
University of San Diego Paralegal Training class and
graduated in 2001. I had my paralegal certificate and
worked for two different lawyers in the San Diego
area.”

In 1997, she met Mark Campbell, an instructor at a
fire school on the base in San Diego. After ten years
in the Navy, Mark was ready to try life in the civilian
world. He and Mary married in December 2001. After

Lubbock Senior Link 93