Vernice Armour- wine shoulder bag

Vernice "FlyGirl" Armour (born 1973) is a former United States Marine Corps officer who was the first African-American female naval aviator in the Marine Corps and the America's first black female combat pilot. She flew the AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopter in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and eventually served two tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.^[1]

Early life and education[edit]

Armour was born in 1973 in Chicago, Illinois to Gaston Armour Jr. and Authurine Armour. After her parents divorced, Clarence Jackson married Authurine. Both her father and her stepfather had served in the military - Gaston Armour was a retired major in the U.S. Army Reserve, and Clarence Jackson was a former Marine Corps sergeant who served three tours in Vietnam.^[2] Her grandfather was a Montford Point Marine, the first African Americans to integrate the Marine Corps between 1942 and 1949.^[3]