Woman in the Military

Women in the U.S. military have always had a "tough row to hoe" and we owe a lot to those women who literally broke ground, opened doors, and made the choice of a military career easier for those who followed. Beginning with the early pioneers, who were almost never recognized, here are some of the military women of achievement and their accomplishments.

There are almost two million Military women veterans. From the American Revolution to Panama, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan, women have served in some way in every conflict. Not that they were legal in the early days. History tells us that thirty three thousand women served in World War One and almost 500,000 took part in World War Two. During the Korean era 120,000 women were in uniform and seven thousand were deployed in theater during Viet Nam. During Desert Storm seven per cent of the total U.S. forces deployed were women - over forty thousand of them.

Militarypay.com provides a brief history of the women in the Military. Militarypay.com features women in military from Vietnam War to operation Desert fox. Hope you will find the information laid at Militarypay.com useful.

The First to Receive Pensions for Military Service

Contrary to slanted opinions about women there is a long historical precedent for women in some form of warfare - though not always in a uniform. For the early pioneer women "home defense" was as routine as drawing well water. And in the Revolutionary decade the first known woman to serve was awarded the first pension for her service.

Margaret Corbin fought with her husband at Fort Washington and in 1779 Congress voted her a disability pension of one half a soldiers pay and one suit of clothes or the equivalent in cash.

Years later, another Revolutionary heroine, Deborah Samson, was granted a pension by the Massachusetts legislature in 1804 and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania awarded Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley a pension in 1822 of forty dollars a year "for services rendered" during the war.

During the Mexican War, Elizabeth C. Newcume, in male attire, was mustered into military service at Fort Leavenworth in September 1847. She served ten months and spent time fighting indians at Dodge City until her sex was discovered and she was discharged. It took a private act of congress to pay Elizabeth Newcume who received a bounty land warrant for 160 acres and full payment for ten months service, plus three months extra pay, as provided in the 5th section of the act of 19 July 1848.

• The first, and only, woman to receive The Medal of Honor was Dr. Mary E. Walker, a contract surgeon during the Civil War.
• The first woman to receive The Purple Heart was Annie G. Fox while serving at Hickam Field during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec 7 1941.
• The first woman to receive The Bronze Star was 1Lt Cordelia E. Cook, Army Nurse Corps, during WWII in Italy. Lt Cook was also awarded The Purple Heart, becoming the first woman to receive two awards.
• Lt Edith Greenwood was awarded The Soldiers Medal in 1943 for heroism during a fire at a military hospital in Yuma Arizona - the first woman to receive this award.
• The first woman to receive The Air Medal was Lt Elsie S. Ott awarded for her actions in 1943 as an air evac nurse.
• Barbara Olive Barnwell was the first woman awarded the Navy-Marine Corps Medal for heroism in 1953.
• Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby, the first Director of the WAC, was the first woman to receive The U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal in 1945.

Philadelphian Loretta Walsh enlisted in March of 1917 and became the first Yeoman (F) in the Navy.

Twin sisters Genevieve and Lucille Baker joined the Coast Guard.

The First Military Woman Physician
Military commissions for women doctors were nonexistent prior to WWII. In 1940, American Medical Women's Association petitioned the AMA for support in changing the law excluding women from the military reserves. Previously the AMA supported the military rank of women nurses but declined to lend support for women physicians. It wasn't until 1943, when the physician supply could not keep up with the demand as the Army increased by thirty fold, that the AMA and the Army and Navy Surgeon General withdrew their objections. The law was signed on April 16, 1943, and the first woman to be commissioned into the Army Medical Corps, Dr. Margaret D. Craighill, was given the rank of major.

First woman B-52 Bomber Pilot.
In 1995 Air Force Academy graduate Lt Kelly Flinn became the first woman B-52 Bomber Pilot. She was the Distinguished Graduate in her B-52 Formal Training Unit. Lt Flinn resigned in 1997, the first woman, in my opinion, to be vilified by the miltary's double standards - in a case that should have never gone beyond simple administrative handling at squadron level.

In 1990 Cmdr. Darlene Iskra became the first woman to command a U.S. Navy ship - the U.S.S. Opportune.

The First Women to attain Star Rank:

• Army - Brig. General Elizabeth P.Hoisington - 1970
• Navy - Rear Admiral Fran McKee - 1976
• Marines - Brig. General Margaret A. Brewer - 1978
• Air Force - Brig. General Jeanne M. Holm - 1971
• The First Women in Nursing to attain Star Rank:
• Army Nurse Corps - Brig. General Anna May Hays - 1970
• Navy Nurse Corps - Rear Admiral Alene B. Duerk - 1972
• Air Force Nurse Corps - Brig. General E. Ann Hoefly - 1972

First Female B-2 pilot

Army PFC Lori Piestwa,23, was the first Native American woman killed by enemy action in our nation's wars.