Margaret Brewer attended the University of Michigan where she became a member of Zeta Tau Alpha. In 1952, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in geography. Military service wasn’t a usual path for women in 1952. However, she broke tradition and she was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps.
Brewer first served as a Communications Watch Officer at the Air Station in El Toro, California. A year later, she became an Inspector-Instructor of a Women Marine Reserve unit in Brooklyn, New York. She rose in the ranks and was stationed in several places including: Norfolk, Virginia; Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Quantico, Virginia; Lexington, Kentucky; and Camp Pendleton, California.
In 1961, she became a Major. She crossed the country and returned to Quantico in 1963. There she was Executive Officer, and then Commanding Officer of the Woman Officer School. In 1966, as a Lieutenant Colonel, she was stationed in Atlanta, Georgia, where she served as the Public Affairs Officer for the 6th Marine Corps. District.
From 1968 through 1971, she was Deputy Director of Women Marines. In the middle of that assignment she became a Colonel. This was followed by a stint as Special Assistant to the Director and then as Chief of the Support Department at the Marine Corps Education Center. She became the seventh Director of Women Marines and served from 1973 through 1977.
She received the Legion of Merit for meritorious service on June 30, 1977. The following day she became Deputy Director of the Division of Information. During the Carter administration, a separate brand for women disbanded and women became a part of the Marine Corps.
Brewer was nominated to the post of Director of the Division of Information, a position which required a one to hold the rank of General. However, women were not allowed to be Generals. A special nomination to the grade of Brigadier General was made by President Carter and it was approved by both house of Congress.
She became Director of Information on May 11, 1978, making her the first female general officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Among her first tasks was to reorganize the Division of Information. It became the Division of Public Affairs and she became the Director of Public Affairs.
Brigadier General Brewer retired in 1980. She served on the board of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and aided in the effort to create the National Museum of the Marine Corps and the Women’s Memorial. A Catholic, she was a parishioner at the Saint Thomas More Cathedral, and served on the board of Catholic Charities of Arlington County and the Catholic High School of Baltimore. In 1984, Zeta Tau Alpha named her an Outstanding Alumna. She died on January 2, 2013.
