Kathleen Byerly

Kathleen Mae Bruyere ( Donahue, previously Byerly; 5 February 19443 September 2020) was a captain in the United States Navy. She was one of the twelve women named by Time magazine as Time Person of the Year in 1975, representing American women (at the height of the feminist movement). In May 1975, she became the first female officer in the Navy to serve as the flag secretary to an admiral commanding an operational staff. In 1977, Byerly was one of six officers who sued the United States Secretary of the Navy and the United States Secretary of Defense over their being restricted from serving on combat aircraft and ships. This led to the 1948 Women's Armed Services Integration Act being struck down as unconstitutional.

Early life Kathleen Mae Donahue was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on 5 February 1944, the oldest of six children of Joseph Donahue, an Army officer, and his wife Lucille Alessandroni. She had four brothers: Joseph, Paul, Timothy and Matthew, and a sister, Lucia. The family moved frequently as her father moved from assignment to assignment in the United States, Germany and Greece. She attended Cathedral High School, a Catholic school for girls in Trenton, NJ while her father was stationed at Fort Dix, but completed her high school education in Germany. She entered Chestnut Hill College, from which she graduated in 1966.

Navy career Following graduation, she joined the United States Navy. In 1968, she married Kellie Byerly, a fellow naval officer. Most women resigned on getting married, but she defied the convention of the time and remained on active duty. Byerly was one of the twelve women named by Time magazine as Time Person of the Year for 1975, and featured on the cover. Under the 1948, Women's Armed Services Integration Act, the service secretaries had the right to discharge women without cause, and women were restricted from flying combat aircraft or serving on ships that might one day have to engage in combat. One of her fellow plaintiffs, a pilot, was told that she could deliver supplies to a ship, but not land on it. In 1978, United States District Judge John Sirica ruled that the law was unconstitutional, clearing the way for women to serve.

Legacy In 2022, Bruyere became the subject of the documentary Time for Change: The Kathy Bruyere Story directed by filmmaker and veteran Daniel L. Bernardi. The documentary received lots of critical attention and it screened at the opening night of the 2023 GI Film Festival San Diego, where it won the Best Short Documentary award. Time for Change: The Kathy Bruyere Story opened the film festival alongside another documentary of women in the military directed by Daniel Bernardi, a feature film centred on Army nurse Jennifer Moreno titled: Ultimate Sacrifices Cpt. Jennifer Moreno.