Life
Profile: Maj. General Marcelite Harris
Ret. Major General Marcelite Harris. PHOTO/USAF
Marcelite Harris broke a number of racial and gender barriers during an illustrious Air Force career.
Harris was born January 16, 1943, in Houston and attended Spelman College in Atlanta, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in speech and drama in 1964. She then attended Officer Training School at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, where she was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1965.
During the early days of her career, Harris held assignments as an administrative officer in California and West Germany, before transitioning into the maintenance field by attending the aircraft maintenance officer’s course at Chanute Air Force Base, Ill., and graduating as the first female aircraft maintenance officer.
Her first assignment as a maintenance officer was to support the Vietnam War as a maintenance supervisor with the 49th Tactical Fighter Squadron in Korat Royal Thai air base, Thailand. After stints back in California and Washington, D.C., Harris broke another barrier as one of the first women to be an air officer commanding at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
