Women Warriors: A Veterans Day Salute

Women have served with valor and honor in all of America’s wars even though they were not under formal military command until the beginning of the 20th century. Wives, mothers, and daughters followed their men into battle. Eventually, women were accepted into the ranks of the armed forces. According to the Department of Defense, by 2005 the number of females on active duty reached nearly 14 percent of the total.

Today there are nearly two million female veterans in the United States, many of whom flew combat aircraft, served on ships, and drove convoys. Here at ThirdAge, we salute all of them as the heroes that they are.

In their honor for Veteran's Day 2011, we pay tribute to seven of the most notable servicewomen in U.S. history.

Dr. Mary E. Walker, 1832-1919 Dr. Walker was the first female U.S. Army surgeon. She volunteered for the Union Army during the Civil War and served without pay for many years. Eventually, she was given a commission. On April 10, 1864 she was captured by Confederate troops and arrested as a spy, but she was released at the end of that summer in exchange for another prisoner. She became the only woman who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for her distinguished medical service on the battlefield. At the turn of the 20th century, when she became involved in the women's suffrage moment, she was stripped of the honor but she refused to give up her medal and wore it constantly. Then in 1977, 58 years after her death, President Jimmy Carter reinstated the validity of the medal.

Cathay Williams, 1844-1892 Cathay Williams was the first African-American female to enlist in the United States Army. She used the pseudonym "William Cathay" and posed as a man. Only her cousin and a friend who were in the same regiment knew about the ruse. Her identity was not discovered even when she was in the hospital with smallpox. In 1868, after years of brave service, she revealed her gender and was immediately discharged. Yet that fact cannot erase the legacy of her courage.

Clara Maass, 1876-1901 Clara Maass served with honor in the Army Nurse Corps during the Spanish American War in 1898. When yellow fever threatened the lives of millions of soldiers, Maass courageously volunteered for an experimental treatment program that led to her death. Maass later became the first woman to be pictured on a U.S. postage stamp.

Annie G. Fox, 1893-1987 Annie Fox was the chief nurse in the Army Nurse Corps at Hickam Field during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. She became the first woman to be awarded the Purple Heart. Upon presenting the honor, the post commander read the citation stating that Fox was being honored because of her “outstanding performance of duty and meritorious acts of extraordinary fidelity." She administered anesthesia to patients during the heaviest part of the bombardment, assisted in dressing the wounded, taught civilian volunteer nurses to make dressings, and "worked ceaselessly with coolness and efficiency . . . Her fine example of calmness, courage and leadership was of great benefit to the morale of all with whom she came in contact." She was not injured in the attack, but that was not a requirement at the time for receiving a Purple Heart. When the rules were changed, she was given a Bronze Heart. However, her acts of selfless courage remain legendary.

Nancy Harkness Love, 1914-1976 Nancy Harkness Love had a strong interest aviation from childhood. She earned her pilot’s license at the age of sixteen. As an adult, after moving to Washington D.C. with her serviceman husband, she convinced Col. William H. Tunner that supplementing the pilot force with experienced females would be a good idea. He appointed her to his staff as Executive of Women's Pilots. She recruited 29 female pilots to join the newly created Women's Auxillary Ferry Squadron (WAFS) and became their Commissioner. Under her command, female pilots flew nearly every type of military aircraft and turned in a remarkable record of achievement.

Eileen Collins, 1956 - Collins says she grew up reading about famous women pilots like Amelia Earhart and that she was inspired her to earn a pilot’s license after college. In 1983 as a U.S. Air Force Colonel, Collins flew evacuated medical students and their families out of Grenada. Then in 1998, she became the first female commander of a Space Shuttle. She was awarded medals for her work and logged 38 days, 8 hours and 10 minutes in outer space.

Kara Hultgreen, 1965-1994 Hultgreen was the Navy’s first fully qualified female fleet fighter pilot. In 1994, Hultgreen died when her F-14 Tomcat plummeted into the Pacific Ocean during a training run. Even though 31 male pilots had died in similar accidents, some people were quick to make Hultgreen's situation evidence for the case against allowing females to be fighter pilots. Yet for women aviators and many others, Hultgreen is revered as a brave pioneer and a selfless patriot.