WOMEN IN THE U.S. MILITARY

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War I came to an end. One year later, America dedicated November 11th as Armistice Day “to celebrate the peace and the veterans who fought to make the world a safer place.” In 1954, President Eisenhower signed a bill passed by Congress proclaiming November 11 as “Veterans Day,” thus paying tribute to all Americans who served their country honorably militarily during war or peacetime.

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Last Friday, November 11, at the Veteran’s Day Memorial held in Bellevue, Washington, I was asked to tell the story of America’s women in the US military (in 8 minutes or less). At first it seemed an impossible task, until I came upon this comment, “She doesn’t need a hero because she was raised to be one.” And so I relaxed in the truth of this statement, thinking it best for these brave women to tell their own story through the lives of a few. So here they are.

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Two hundred and forty years of patriotism, passion for service, and success have come and gone for the three million women who have served in our nation’s military, each with their own story to tell of dedication and bravery.

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Like Deborah Samson, who became one of the nation’s first women veterans, having served in the Revolutionary War by disguising herself as a man from 1778-1781.

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During the Civil War it was Harriett Tubman who led slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad and served as a spy during the Civil War. Harriett was the first woman in American history to lead a military expedition of male soldiers, freeing 750 slaves along a South Carolina river—with not one soldier lost in the attack. For three years of service she was paid $200 and denied a pension for her work as a spy.

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COAST GUARD

Women have protected our nation’s coastlines as far back as the 1830s as lighthouse keepers, but it wasn’t until World War I that twin sisters Genevieve and Lucille Baker may have been the first women to wear the Coast Guard uniform.

Since June of this year, Linda Lee Fagan, the Coast Guard’s first female four-star admiral and the 27th Commandant of the Coast Guard , is the first woman in American history to lead a military service .

NAVY

In 1908, 20 nurses were the first women to serve in the Navy. Earning the nickname “the sacred twenty,” they were assigned to duty at a naval hospital in Washington, D.C.?where they rented a room — the Navy wouldn’t cover living expenses — and worked side by side tending to the wounded.

Do women sometimes fight in wars differently than men? During WII, it became known that Hitler despised makeup on women, especially red lipstick. So in 1941, American women began wearing Victory Red, Regimental Red, Fighting Red, Rocket Red, and Grenadier Red lipsticks. Someone said, “It was patriotism you could carry in your purse.”

In 1976 the first women were permitted to apply for entrance to a military academy. Two years later, Michelle Howard applied to the US Naval Academy, one of only seven African American women in the class of 1,363 students.

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Years later Admiral Howard was in command of Expeditionary Strike Group Two, a flotilla guarding the Persian Gulf as part of the US war on terrorism and piracy in the Indian Ocean, during which time her sailors rescued Richard Phillips, captain of the container ship MV Maersk Alabama , held hostage in April 2009 by Somali pirates (the story is retold in the movie, “Captain Phillips, a true story”).

Admiral Howard became the first Navy woman four-star, while serving as commander of US Naval Forces Europe and concurrently as commander of US Naval Forces Africa and Allied Joint Force Command Naples.

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AIR FORCE

Esther Blake, a 4-year Army veteran, on the first minute of the first hour of the first day on July 8, 1948, became the first woman to enlist for regular Air Force duty.

General Janet Wolfenbarger became the first woman four-star in the Air Force, overseeing the Air Force Materiel Command in Ohio, employing some 80,000 people and managing $60 billion annually.

Eileen Collins, a former flight instructor and test pilot, became the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle and the first to command a Space Shuttle mission. By the time she retired with the rank of Colonel from the USAF and NASA, she had flown 6,751 hours in thirty different types of aircraft, and logged over 872 hours in space flights.

SPACE FORCE

The US Space Force, established in 2019, is the only branch of the United States military where women have always had equal roles.

In 2020 the Space Force obtained its first all-female space operations crew and Nina M. Armagno became the first female general officer in the Space Force.

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MARINES

Ask any devil dog who the first female Marine was and he or she will immediately bark out the words “Opha Mae Johnson. 1918!” In 1918, the Marine Corps Reserves opened to women for service. By luck of the draw, Johnson was the first in line, among 300 other women, and became the first female Marine.

Carol Mutter, became the first woman to qualify as a US Space Director, and was ultimately made responsible for the operation of the Space Commander in Chief's Command Center. She is the first female Marine general/flag officer to command a major deployable tactical command, and in 1996, became the second woman to earn three-stars.

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ARMY

Growing up in a military family, Ann Elizabeth Dunwoody was not interested in a military career until she attended a four-week Army introductory program that led to her becoming a 2nd lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps where she learned to jump from airplanes.

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In 1992, she became the first woman to command a battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division and after a series of commands, in 2008, Dunwoody became the first woman in United States military history to achieve the rank of four-star general.

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Brigadier General Wilma L. Vaught, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, concerned that the role of women in the military was going unnoticed, was instrumental in pushing for a memorial. Her leadership resulted in the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.

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Dedicated in 1997, the memorial honors all women having served in or with the Armed Forces since the American Revolution. Only a few became Admirals and Generals. Others might have, but their lives were cut short. Women in the military die, too. In Iraq and Afghanistan alone, nearly 200 were killed and numerous others have been acknowledged for heroism and bravery under fire.

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In the Arlington memorial sits a three-ring-binder containing bios of the women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Turn the pages in the binder and read each woman’s name. Make sure to look at their age. Some were 18 and some were in their late 40s. Stop turning the pages at the photo/bio of U.S. Army Specialist Katrina Bell-Johnson. She is smiling, hair pulled back neatly in a bun, 32 at the time of her death. Killed in a vehicle accident while delivering supplies in Iraq, BJ wasn’t hoping to be a general. She was a mom with a young daughter back home, who just wanted to make sergeant. Suddenly her small, dusty desert boots and her M16 were all that remained.

Gaze at her photo long enough to let tears roll down your cheeks.

And salute the brave women who have served in or with our nation’s military in the past and are doing so now. Mourn those whose lives have been lost in battles of yesterday and today.

Two hundred and forty years and three million women in military service have come and gone between Deborah Sampson and Katrina Bell-Johnson. Sleep on brave women and take your rest in the arms of God. We thank you and all those like you for your service.

“America without her soldiers would be like

God without his angels.”

— Claudia Pemberton