'Other than that, I was a good Marine.' 31 years — and a gender change — later,

[Shana A]

'Other than that, I was a good Marine.' 31 years — and a gender change — later, Poland woman arrested for desertion.

Daniel Hartill, Staff Writer
Lewiston-Auburn
Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 9:00 pm

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/2013/01/12/31-years-and-gender-change-later-poland-woman-arre/1303714

POLAND — Thirty-one years after Pvt. Donald Tremblay ignored his officers' orders, drove away from a Marine Corps base in Southern California and returned home to Maine, Elizabeth Tremblay is facing the past.

Elizabeth, 57, formerly known as Donald, was arrested and briefly jailed four months ago on a rare, decades-old charge of desertion. She is now waiting at home in Poland for the Marine Corps to decide whether it will pursue punishment against her.

"I knew they would come looking for me at some point," Tremblay said. "I didn't expect it would take 31 years."

In all this time, there were never any police snooping around, phone calls or even letters, she said.

There was no warning when an Androscoggin County Sheriff's deputy appeared at the door of her mobile home on Sept. 10, 2012. A fugitive-from-justice warrant for Tremblay had just popped up on sheriff's department computers.

[Shana A]

Marines give accused deserter a discharge with honorable conditions

Daniel Hartill, Staff Writer
Lewiston-Auburn |
Monday, January 14, 2013 at 1:56 pm

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/0001/11/30/marines-give-accused-deserter-discharge-honorable/1306370

POLAND — Elizabeth Tremblay's worries of prison are over.

Tremblay, 57, of Poland received her general discharge Monday morning from the U.S. Marines.

The discharge, which was "under honorable conditions," ends a decades-long odyssey for Tremblay that began with her enlistment in 1980, her departure from the Marines a year later and continued last September, when she was arrested and jailed on a charge of desertion.

During the interim, Tremblay, who was born "Donald Tremblay" also began a sex change.

"It's going to take a while to sink in," she said. Her case was featured in Sunday's Sun Journal. "When it hits home, that will be emotional."