LeAnna Bradley
37 Years
of Service
by Denny
Meyer |
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LeAnna Bradley
grew up in the 1930s &1940s in rural Scotts Bluff Nebraska
where, as a boy of 4, she sat by the hearth at home
studying the Sears Roebuck catalog dreaming of buying
pretty dresses to wear. But, before you begin to
form a stereotype image of this lonely transgender
child, be aware that that dream was deferred for nearly
sixty years while she pursued another clothing option
that also inspired her at a young age. The movie
theatre newsreels of the era, showing proud uniformed
soldiers returning home from war, consumed her young
mind with a determination to serve her country, gender
contradictions be damned. All things considered,
with two Purple Hearts earned as a Sea Bee in combat in
Vietnam and a chest full of other medals and ribbons for
nearly four decades of service, she did rather well and
proudly (Medals and ribbons are listed at bottom of
article).
Her parents were the most classic
ordinary Americans; her father, after serving in the
Navy in WWII, earned his living as a carpenter; her
mother was a waitress. They were average
Protestants who went to church on Sunday, child in tow.
What the boy perceived was pretty Sunday dresses and of
course the cookies that awaited following the service;
but who knew. Each of us, after all, has our own
personal epiphany.
LeAnna didn't do well in school; but,
she was an exceptional cub scout and boy scout who
thrived on earning badges and ribbons and wearing the
uniform. Every day she dreamt of serving in the
military where one could become what inspired her most.
What can one say, some of us are simply fond of
uniforms. Ships at sea filled her mind night and
day; for her, the Navy was where she wanted to serve.
But a boy who
suffered conflicting gender emotions and played with
paper dolls, did not have smooth sailing in school.
Partly to escape the taunting, small town life, and
partly to begin to fulfill a dream, LeAnna joined the
Nebraska Guard during the Korean war at the age of 15.
Courage has many forms; had the war not ended, this
youth would have been deployed to those terrible
battles. Yet for LeAnna, the service was a
sanctuary of freedom and the first fulfillment of the
life she had sought throughout her youth. When she
was 16 in 10th grade, she and her unit, the Gerring
Nebraska National Guard, 134th Infantry, 34th Tank
Battalion, had been ready to deploy to Korea, but the
order was cancelled at the last moment.
Just after turning 17, LeAnna
joined the US Navy in the summer of 1955. Because
of her scouting and National Guard experience, she
served in the Great Lakes Naval Training Station's Drill
Team and Honor Guard. Not bad for a boy who had
been bullied and taunted as a sissy since age 9 through
elementary, junior high, and high school. On the
contrary, she'd always known where she wanted to be,
what she wanted to belong to; and once there, she was
outstanding from the start. And contrary to the
belief that transgender Americans are unfit and too
unstable to serve, she never once faltered through the
more than three decades of service that followed as she
advanced through the ranks, combat training, and the
misfortunes of war far from home.
It was not an easy life; but it
was the life she chose to live in order to proudly and
patriotically serve. In uniform, she was always
the most neatly spit shined in any unit she served in.
On her own, during time off on liberty, she found
occasion to dress as a woman, briefly in seclusion, for
moments of complete fulfillment of who she is.
That did not interfere with her professionalism as a
sailor any more than being a sports or horseback riding
enthusiast would.
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In 1957 she served aboard a
destroyer escort and later served on submarines; she
then became a member of the elite highly trained Navy
Sea Bees. As a Sea Bee, age twenty eight, after
already having served her nation for over a decade, she was sent to
Vietnam where she served for 31 months. She was
wounded twice and spent four and a half months in a body
cast recovering from her second combat wounds. |
LeAnna
noted that people's first impression of her has always
been that this sailor is rather feminine and presumed to
be gay. Considering her military career,
judging a person by their appearance and mannerisms is
not the best way to determine an ability to serve
America in combat. Like at least 50 percent of
transgender people, LeAnna is not gay and never was.
Prior to her transition late in life, she was married
and has a son (who proudly served in the Navy, like his
father and grandfather did before him). Now,
following transition, she is lovingly partnered.
In her long naval career, she was a
torpedo man, Sea Bee mechanic, weapons booby traps expert and
unit trainer. As a Sea Bee in Vietnam, she was a
weapons security and problems expert, led a 12 man
sector, and was responsible for machine gun and mortar
pit emplacements.
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In 1974 she retired as a Petty
Officer First Class, after 22 years of service.
She continued on as a Naval Fleet Reservist for more than a
decade. And at age 51, she became an officer in
the Sea Cadets, imparting her years of training,
leadership, and experience, and knowledge to young people who were
determined to join the US Navy. She served seven
years as a unit leader, leaving at a Lieutenant after a
total combined service of thirty seven years. |
After her first military
retirement, in the 1970s, she began to explore her
gender identity, visiting doctors, and psychiatrists,
joining transgender groups, and participating in
research studies. Yet still, she never once let
any of that private pursuit ever once interfere with her
leadership role as a reservist or Sea Cadet officer.
Long after most people would have put their full
military careers behind them to at long last pursue
personal concerns, she carried on serving her country,
while still sacrificing personal matters by setting
aside a lifelong wish until yet later in life. As
the list of her lifetime military achievements
demonstrates, she does not need anymore medals; and yet
she perhaps deserves one more for commitment and self
sacrifice.
Least there be any lingering
stereotypes in the reader's mind, while a reservist her
civilian career was running her own trucking, bus
travel, and limo businesses.
LeAnna Bradley transitioned to female at age 60. She is now 71 years old.
Her medals
include:
A Vietnam Cross of
Gallantry
Medal , (Unit 1965 to 1969)
A Vietnam Cross of Gallantry Medal, Individual, with 4
Bronze Stars and fleet marine attachment
A
Vietnam Wound Medal (1966)
A Vietnam Campaign Medal (1965 to 1969)
A Vietnam Civil Action Medal (1965 to 1969)
A Vietnam Combat Campaign Service Medal (1965 to 1969)
A Purple
Heart with 1
silver
star
An Armed
Forces Expeditionary Medal with 3 Bronze Stars, 1 Silver
Star, and Fleet Marine Device
An Armed Forces Reserve Medal (USN Fleet Reserve)
A Combat Action medal with 4 Bronze Stars
A Cold War Medal (Lebanon service)
An Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Lebanon service)
A Good Conduct Medal with 4 Bronze Stars
A Joint Service Achievement Medal (US
Navy - US
Marines)
A Joint Service Commendation Medal (3rd Marine Division)
A National Defense Medal with 2
Bronze
Stars
A Navy / Marine Corps
Achievement Medal
A Pistol Sharpshooter Medal with Bronze “S”
Attachment
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Additionally her citations and or
ribbons include:
Meritorious Unit Commendation (Mobile
construction Battalion Seabees MCB-9)
Navy Unit Commendation (Navy Construction
Battalion Seabees MCB-9 )
Navy
Presidential Unit Citation
Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon
Ship/Boat Service (USS Tutuila ARG-4 and USS Heartley
DE-1029 ) (SS ARG-274)
Submarine
Service
Training Completion Military Training Instructor
US Navy- US Marines
Honorable Service
Vietnam
Naval Service 1965 to 1969
Expert Rifle with silver Large “E” attachment
Foreign
Service,
Guam |
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This August in
Chicago, LeAnna Bradley got a standing
ovation when she spoke in Daily Plaza at an
AVER Veterans Remembrance regarding her
honorable service, wounds and medals.
"In combat," she said, "it makes no
difference who or what you are; we are all
the same whether straight, gay, lesbian,
bisexual or transgender. We are there
to do our job for our country and our
families." "I was only doing my job,"
She noted. |
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© 2009
Gay Military Signal |