Marjorie Finlay, Nathan Williams, Denise Clancy, and Shane Clancy

Last year, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that as of April 1, all military combat jobs would be open to women. As part of StoryCorps’ Military Voices Initiative (MVI), this week we are presenting two broadcasts from woman who served at a time when their roles and expectations were defined almost solely by their gender.

Marjorie Finlay enlisted in the Air Force in 1973 at a time when there were few women in the military. She was excited to be in uniform, but the training she received was not what she had expected when she joined up.

Instead of completing obstacle courses and firing guns, she was instructed on how to sit with her legs crossed at the ankle, how to do her hair and makeup, and how to dial a telephone with a pencil.

Even though this disappointed her, Margie (pictured in a yearbook photo at left) still loved being a member of the Air Force. But while enlisted, she became pregnant with her first child, and was told by her commanders that in order for her—a married pregnant woman—to remain in uniform, she would need her husband to sign a waiver giving his permission for her to remain in the military.

Her husband refused sign a waiver and in 1974, just before the birth of her son, Margie was forced out of the Air Force.

Margie missed being in the military and reenlisted in 1993. She and her husband divorced in 1996. Today she is a captain in the Air National Guard. She came to StoryCorps with her son, Nathan Williams (pictured together above), to talk about her early experiences serving in the Air Force. (Listen to their conversation in the player above.)

Denise Clancy comes from a long line of soldiers. In her family there are more than 200 years of combined military service. Growing up she always knew she would continue her family legacy.

Denise enlisted in the Navy in 1990 serving as a cryptologist and within a few years, when the Navy began allowing women to serve aboard combat vessels, she was deployed to the U.S.S. Enterprise. There were few women on ships at the time and Denise remembers being warned by her fellow enlistees not travel around the Enterprise at night without an escort.

While on the aircraft carrier, Denise met her future husband, Shane (pictured together above). They are both now retired from the military and came to StoryCorps to remember the ways women were treated on their ship, and what it has been like to raise their daughters in a military family. (Listen to their conversation in the player below.)

Originally aired February 27, 2016, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.

Andy Downs and Angelia Sheer

On Oct 4, 1971, George Giffe, a 35-year-old Tennessee man suffering from mental illness, hijacked a charter plane at gunpoint from the Nashville airport. He also claimed to be in possession of a bomb.

Running low on fuel, the plane’s pilot landed in Jacksonville, FL, where the FBI was waiting. After a brief standoff, Giffe killed the two hostages who remained onboard before turning the gun on himself.

One of the two was Brent Downs—the pilot of the plane.

At StoryCorps, Brent’s son Andy (pictured above with his mother Janie and his father) spoke with Angelia Sheer, the daughter of the man who killed his father.

This tragedy helped shape the way in which law enforcement subsequently handled hijackings after a federal appeals court ruled in 1975 that the FBI acted negligently when agents ignored the safety of the people onboard (the plane is pictured above sitting on the tarmac in Jacksonville, FL).

Originally aired October 2, 2015, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Photos courtesy of Andy Downs.

“Will you do me the greatest honor, and will you marry me?”

Mazel Tov Rory and Asya.

We have heard our first marriage proposal recorded with the StoryCorps app.

On July 8, Rory Miller and girlfriend Asya Adcock sat together in their Tennessee home to share memories of their first kiss together while in high school. She described it as “pleasant” while he was inspired to write a song about it.

But that was it for the two of them for the next seven years until they reconnected at Bonnaroo in 2011. Rory had no doubt he wanted to kiss Asya again, she was not so sure so she left it up to…Arcade Fire. If they played her favorite song she would kiss him, if not, he’d be out of luck. The indie rock gods smiled on him that day and “Wake Up” was played, and they have been together since.

Congrats to the happy couple whose dog Achilles was present for the proposal, and hopefully they won’t forget to let us know when they pick a date (we hear Tennessee autumns are spectacular).

Click here to listen to the happy moment.

Our proposal: Download the StoryCorps app and start recording your own special moments.

Wilson Matthews and Jeanne Yeatman

For more than a decade, Jeanne Yeatman and Wilson Matthews worked together as flight nurses, caring for patients being transported to hospitals on emergency response helicopters.

Wilson and Jeanne were called in to save a 13-year-old named Stephen Wright (pictured above), who had been severely injured in a bike accident.

They came to StoryCorps to talk about their most memorable flight, which took place in 2001.

Originally aired July 24, 2015, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Photo of Stephen Wright courtesy of the Wright family.

Reagan Richmond and Jack Richmond

In 1987, Jack Richmond was driving a forklift at work when the vehicle overturned onto him, crushing his leg below the knee. Initially he was in denial that he was going to lose his leg, but eventually he came to accept that he was going to have to live with a prosthetic limb, and dedicated himself to counseling and comforting others going through the same thing.

Since then Jack has run the Boston Marathon and now works for a company that designs and tests prosthetic limbs.

At StoryCorps, he talks with his daughter Reagan who was just 2 months old at the time of his accident about how he quietly helps others.

Originally aired April 19, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Charlie Morris and Sylvester Lewis

In April, 1939, a young African American man was accused of stealing merchandise from a store in Tennessee. Shortly afterward, he was found dead in a nearby river.

That man’s name was Jessie Lee Bond. His death certificate says he drowned accidentally, but his family always maintained that after an argument with white shop owners, he was lynched — shot, castrated, and thrown in a river.

At StoryCorps, Charlie Morris (L), Jessie Lee’s brother, remembers the moment he learned what happened.

No one has ever been charged in Charlie’s brother’s death. But his story inspired a lawmaker in Tennessee to introduce a bill to the legislature that would create a task force to study unsolved civil rights crimes. That bill stalled in the state Senate.

Kenneth and Gaye Honeycutt

On March 18, 1937, a gas leak at The Consolidated School of New London, Texas, led to an explosion that claimed the lives of nearly 300 students and teachers.

It remains one of the worst school disasters in US history.

Kenneth Honeycutt was playing near the school when the explosion happened. At StoryCorps, he shared memories of the tragedy with his wife, Gaye.

Mary Van Beke and her son Charles

94-year-old Mary Van Beke tells her son, Charles, about growing up in the 1920s.

Dr. Jim Fleming and his daughter Janetta

Dr. Jim Fleming tells his daughter, Janetta Fleming Concepcion, about being trapped indoors by the Great Ice Storm of 1951.

Originally aired January 2, 2009, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Joe Buford and Michelle Miller

For most of his life, Joe Buford hid his inability to read from the people around him. After raising two daughters, he decided to make a change. Joe came to StoryCorps with his literacy tutor, Michelle Miller, to talk about what his life was like before he could read and how working together changed his life.

Originally aired April 18, 2008, on NPR’s Morning Edition.