Mary Bonnin is a former Master Chief in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. She retired from her position in 1996. She had been with the United States Navy for 20 years, graduating at the top of her class in both air and gas

surface-supplied diving Surface-supplied diving is diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas using a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scub ...

. She then became the first woman Master Diver, and later she would be one of the first women to enter the

Women Divers Hall of Fame The Women Divers Hall of Fame (WDHOF) is an international honor society. Its purpose is to honor the accomplishments of women divers, and their contributions to various fields of underwater diving. Full membership is restricted to nominees who h ...

Military career

Mary Bonnin enlisted in the United States Navy in 1976. She graduated top of her class, and later became the first enlisted female diver certified in both air and gas diving. During her tour she trained over one-thousand divers, and worked in various posts around the ship. She also served as the leading diver safety authority. Mary Bonnin eventually retired from the Navy in 1996.

Achievements

Over the course of her military years, she has won many awards and honors. She was added into the Women Divers Hall of Fame (WDHOF) in 2000. The WDHOF was designed originally to give tribute to the most notable divers, however it quickly developed into a tribute of women that helped the exploration of the sea. Many notable women have been inducted into the WDHOF such as: Dr.

Eugenie Clark Eugenie Clark (May 4, 1922 – February 25, 2015), popularly known as The Shark Lady, was an American ichthyologist known for both her research on shark behavior and her study of fish in the order Tetraodontiformes. Clark was a pioneer in the fie ...

, U.S. Chief Scientist Kathy Sullivan, and many others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnin, Mary Living people 20th-century American people 20th-century American women Year of birth missing (living people) American underwater divers Place of birth missing (living people) United States Navy sailors Female United States Navy personnel Women Divers Hall of Fame