Page 83 - JSOM Fall 2022

ship in accordance with international practice, as set provided and managed legal services in support of the US
forth in the provisions of the Hague Conventions of Army Pacific’s mission to train Army Forces for military
1899 and 1907. operations and peacetime engagements aimed at pro­
moting regional stability. Her responsibilities included
providing advice and counsel in a myriad of areas of law,
MARY ELIZABETH “BETTY” CLARKE to include environmental law, fiscal law, personnel law,
international law, and administrative law.
MARY ELIZABETH “BETTY” CLARKE
was a US Army officer who served as the In 2006, Judge Pietsch was appointed by the governor
director of the Women’s Army Corps of Hawaii to the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission,
(WAC). She was the first woman to attain where she served for 7 years. Shortly after the appoint­
the rank of major general (two star) in the ment, the governor selected Judge Pietsch as its chair,
US Army. Clarke served in the US Army and during her tenure, the Commission improved the
for 36 years, the longest service of any claims administrative process, eliminated backlogs, im­
woman for a US Army career. plemented a public education program, and initiated an
awareness program within the public schools.
In 1945, at the age of 21, Clarke enlisted
in the Women’s Army Corps just before World War II ended. Judge Pietsch’s academic degrees include a bachelor of
Clarke was expecting to serve until the war ended, plus a few arts degree from the College of St. Theresa, master of
additional months. A male commander stated that it was un­ arts degree from Marquette, and a juris doctor degree
likely she would even make it through the officers’ training from the Catholic University of America. She was also a
program. Clarke then decided to stay and made it through the senior executive fellow at the Harvard University Ken­
initial training and eventually made a career of the US Army. nedy School of Government and is a graduate of the
Most of this time she spent in the Women’s Army Corps.
Defense Leadership and Management Program and a
graduate of the Army War College.
Clarke held several officer positions from 1958 through 1971
in Texas, Alabama, Maryland, California, and Washington, On November 1, 2011, President Obama nominated
DC. In Washington, DC, she worked at the Office of Equal her to the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. She
Opportunity as Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel. She also was confirmed by the Senate on May 24, 2012.
did WAC training and advisement. Clarke was promoted to
colonel in 1972 to become the commander of the US WAC
Center and School in Fort McClellan. In 1974, she was the RETIRED BRIGADIER GENERAL
chief of the WAC Advisory Office. In 1975, Clarke became RHONDA L. CORNUM
brigadier general and served as the final director of the WAC.
In 1976, she taught special courses at the US Military Acad­
emy Preparatory School to prepare women to attend military RETIRED BRIGADIER GENERAL
academies, since women were then allowed to attend by an RHONDA L. CORNUM has enjoyed a
executive order of President Gerald Ford. distinguished career as an Army medi­
cal doctor and officer and an advocate
Clarke was the last director of the WAC (1975–1978) until it for gender equality. In 2001, when she
was dissolved at the end of her tenure. She then immediately held the rank of colonel, she explained,
became commander of the US Army Military Police School “You shouldn’t think of yourself as a
and Training Center. After this assignment, she was given the female colonel. You should think of
rank of a two­star general and promoted to major general in yourself as a colonel who just happens
June 1978, retiring from the military in 1981. Clarke died on to be a woman . . . I guess if I’m a crusader for anything,
June 10, 2011, in San Antonio, and is buried at the Fort Sam its equal opportunity for everybody.”
Houston National Cemetery.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, Cornum earned a doctorate in
biochemistry from Cornell University in 1971. Planning
CORAL WONG PIETSCH to pursue a career as a research scientist, she was re­
cruited by the Army while attending a conference pre­
CORAL WONG PIETSCH is a US judge senting the results of her research on amino acids.
and a former brigadier general in the
US Army Reserve. In 2001, she be­ Cornum was enthusiastic about the opportunities the
came the first female general officer in Army could offer her—“where else could a woman who
the Army Judge Advocate General’s is also a physician and a surgeon get paid to jump out of
(JAG) Corps and the first Asian Amer­ an airplane?” She earned an expert field medical badge
ican woman to reach general officer and an airborne badge and learned to fly helicopters as
rank in the US Army. Judge Pietsch a flight surgeon.
held the position of senior attorney In 1986, Cornum was awarded an MD degree from
and special assistant at Headquarters, US Army Pacific the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Mary­
located in Honolulu, Hawaii. In this position, she land. She completed a medical residency in urology at

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