Historic Role of Woman - Cynthia Camp
Women have played a vital and evolving role in U.S. military and wartime efforts for over two centuries, from the Revolutionary War to modern conflicts. During the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) women supported the Continental Army in countless ways nursing, foraging, cooking, and laundry —Some even in roles such as intelligence. Sarah Osborn risked her life delivering food to soldiers in the trenches. Deborah Sampson disguised herself as man to fight.
Margaret Corbin was a cook who continued to fight with her husband’s canon after he was killed,.
In the War of 1812, Mary Allen served as a nurse aboard the frigate United States, becoming the first documented woman to serve on a U.S. naval warship.
During the Mexican American War (1846–1848), Elizabeth Newcom disguised herself as a man named “Bill,” she served about 10 months, marching roughly 600 miles with her regiment before her true identity was discovered.
Throughout the Civil War (1861–1865), tens of thousands of women continued contributed to the war effort in both the North and South. Their contributions were essential. About 20,000 working as nurses, cooks, laundresses, and spies, while some disguised themselves as men to fight on the front lines. Notable figures are Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross; Dorothea Dix, known for her advocacy for mental health reform; and Dr. Mary Walker, who played a critical role in caring for wounded soldiers on the front lines. Dr Walker was the first woman surgeon in the U.S. Army; she was taken prisoner and continued to serve after release. She remains the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor.
By the Spanish American War (1898) Social expectations of women had evolved allowing for more active roles in society, including involvement in charitable and humanitarian efforts. About 1,500 civilian nurses were contracted by the Army to serve on bases and ships. Twenty nurses died during the war.
In 1901 Congress created the Army Nurse Corps. The Navy Nurse Corps followed in 1908.
During WWI, (1914–1918) women were allowed to serve in non-combat roles to free up men for frontline duty. Approximately 21,000 women served in the Army Nurse Corps, providing critical medical care to wounded soldiers. Over 11,000 women served in other capacities, including as yeomen (clerical workers)
Loretta Perfectus Walsh, the first official woman enlisted in any service in a non-nursing capacity on March 17, 1917. She also had the distinction of becoming the Navy’s first female Chief Petty Officer.
Opha May Johnson was the first woman to enlist in the Marine Corps in 1918. These women made history before women even had the right to vote.
By the end of WW II (1939–1945), over 350,000 American women served in noncombatant roles. These women served in roles ranging from nurses to pilots to mechanics proving their capabilities in traditionally male-dominated fields. Some worked near the front lines as nurses, with 16 killed by direct enemy fire and 68 captured as prisoners of war. Nurses taken captive in the Philippines cared for Americans in POW camps until liberation, they were known as the Angels of Bataan. The 6888 (6 triple 8) Postal Battalion was recognized for their hard work clearing a backlog of 17 million pieces of mail in record time to boost soldier morale. Other Notable figures are 1st Lt Mary Wilson, 2 nd Lt Elaine Roe, 2 nd Lt Rita Rourke 2 nd Lt Ellen Ainsworth who all received the Silver Star for their courage under fire when their hospital was under intense shell fire in the Battle of Anzio in 1944.
June 12, 1948: President Harry Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act in 1948, allowing women to serve in all four branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. However, caps limited women to 2 percent of total enlistees—a restriction that remained until 1967. Truman’s executive order desegregating the military, coupled with the act, also enabled Black women to serve and, in 1949, Annie Graham became the first Black woman to join the Marine Corps.
During The Korean War (1950-1953) Approximately 120,000 women served on active duty; roles had expanded they were working as nurses, medics, communications operators, logisticians and more. Women were noncombatants forward deployed to the edges of combat zones in Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH), and
they flew aboard MEDEVAC aircraft playing critical roles treating wounded soldiers, the Korean War Legacy Foundation states that 18 women were killed during the conflict. Col Anna Mae Hays served as a nurse in Korea, Capt. Lillian Keil, an AF Flight nurse was awarded 11 battle stars and four Air medals, Col Ruby Bradley served as the Chief Nurse of the 171 st Evacuation Hospital in Korea, survived Japanese captivity and is the most highly decorated women in military history.
Vietnam War: Women’s Roles and Challenges
The Vietnam War brought additional Roles and Challenges. More than 11,000 American women served in Vietnam, with approximately 90 percent serving as volunteer nurses. More than 250,000 others served as air traffic controllers, clerks, intelligence officers and in other support positions. During this era, legislative changes allowed women to achieve higher ranks and command units with male soldiers. Among them were the first female general,
Brigadier General Anna Mae Hays, and Capt. Mary Therese Klinker, a nurse who died in a plane crash while evacuating Vietnamese orphans.
Three significant events of the 1970’s
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) (72) I got to run track
End of Draft and Transition to an All-Volunteer Force (73) I graduated in 1973 & I joined in 1974
Military Service Academies Open to Women (75) This happened when I was in Tech School and I drove to the Academy to see women walking around on campus
According to the Navy, in 1973 the first female pilot earned her wings LT JG Barbara Ann Allen (Rainey), the Reverend Dianna Pohlman Bell became the first woman Chaplin in the entire Department of Defense, and Jeanne M. Holm was the first woman promoted to Major General. I learned that women could become Generals!
July 27, 1978: A federal judge struck down a law banning women from serving on Navy and Marine ships, allowing them to serve on noncombat ships for the first time.
Discuss First job as a Weapons Control Technician on the F-4 Phantom I was not wanted and you cannot imagine what I had to endure. But I always came out fighting. I had to earn the respect of my coworkers.
Persian Gulf War 1990-1991: Approximately 41,000 women served in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, with eight casualties. It marked the first time women officially served in combat zones. Female pilots played vital roles during the Gulf War, and women served on Navy ships, expanding their contributions to the military. I remember Major Ronda Cornum an Army Flight Surgeon who survived a helicopter crash during a search and rescue mission was taken as a POW and later awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. I flew two missions in to the FOBs moving wounded patients. and from Captain Cynthia Mosley was honored for her bravery under fire and exceptional leadership directing tactical communications and logistics near the front lines. Major Marie T. Rossi who commanded a Chinook company died in a crash right after the cease fire.
Major General Carol A Barkalow a West Point Graduate commanded an air defense artillery battalion and became a vocal advocate for integrating women into combat roles.
April 28, 1993: The Defense Department amended its combat exclusion policy, allowing women to fly in combat missions. In 1994, Defense Secretary Les Aspin rescinded the “Risk Rule,” And declared all service members were eligible for any position for which they were qualified, except direct ground combat.
Captain Martha McSally became the first woman to fly in combat in 1995 in Iraq and, in 2004 became the first woman to command a combat aviation squadron during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003–2011), American women made history by serving in combat roles on an unprecedented scale, often under circumstances that challenged long-standing restrictions. We may have been barred from ground combat roles but the nature of Iraq War operations and Afghanistan operations—characterized by improvised explosive devices, counterinsurgency missions, and the need for women to interact with Iraqi and Afghan female civilians—made the combat restriction impractical.
As of 2011 approximately 300,000 women served during the prolonged conflict, with 800 wounded and 130 killed,
In 2005, Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester became the first woman since World War II—and the first ever in direct combat—to receive the Silver Star for her service in Iraq. The first all-woman Marine mission took place in
Afghanistan in 2009. And in March 2011, an all-female Air Force team, known as ‘Dudette 07‘ executed all aspects of a combat mission.
By the time of OIF/OEF, nearly 300,000 women had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, with about 2,200 active-duty women in infantry, cavalry, armor, and field artillery roles. These women’s stories highlight the courage they showed in combat.
Several women have been recognized for their bravery and service in roles that broke barriers for women in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Women honored for valor in Iraq.
Leigh Ann Hester – First female U.S. Army soldier to receive the Silver Star since WWII, cited for valor in close quarters combat during an ambush on March 20, 2003. National Veterans Memorial and Museum.
Lori Piestewa – A member of the 507th Maintenance Company, Piestewa was the first Native American woman to die in combat and the first woman killed in the Iraq War. She died in the Nasiriyah ambush of March 23, 2003, Wikipedia.
Shoshana Johnson – The first Black female U.S. military prisoner of war, captured during the Nasiriyah battle and held for 22 days before rescue National Veterans Memorial and Museum.
Tammy Duckworth – A helicopter pilot who lost both legs and part of her right arm in 2004, becoming the first female double amputee from the war National Veterans Memorial and Museum.
Ashley Pullen – In 2007, while officially a noncombatant in the 617th Military Police Company, Pullen drove a Humvee into an ambush south of Baghdad, discharging her rifle and shielding a wounded soldier from a blast. She was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor device, despite her noncombatant status Organization of American Historians.
Women honored for combat in Afghanistan.
Monica Lin Brown - The first woman in Afghanistan to receive the Silver Star, Brown was a combat medic with the 82nd Airborne Division. In April 2007, she ran through insurgent fire to reach wounded soldiers after a roadside bomb, using her body to shield them from mortar rounds. Though women were not allowed in direct combat at the time, her valor was recognized in 2008. She was inducted into the Army Women’s Foundation Hall of Fame in 2014.
Ashley White – An Army veteran and pioneer for women in Special Operations, White was among the first women recruited to join Cultural Support Teams in Afghanistan in 2011, when women were still banned from direct combat roles. She earned her first combat action badge in Kandahar for shielding civilians from gunfire, an act that saved lives but went unmentioned in her unit. Tragically, she died in 2011 when an IED killed her and two others. She was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Meritorious Service Medal CBS News.
Note it was not until January 24, 2013: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted the Combat Exclusion policy, allowing women to serve in all combat roles. By 2016, the Congressional Research Office notes, all military positions were officially open to women. Two years later, August 21, 2015, Captain Kristen Griest and Captain Shaye Haver graduated from the US Army Ranger School at Fort Benning Georgia. I remember this because I had just come back from Afghanistan for the fourth time.
Rebekah Edmondson – An Army veteran who deployed multiple times to Afghanistan, Edmondson worked with Rangers before women were allowed in Ranger Battalions. She trained Afghan Female Tactical Platoon (FTP) members to gather intelligence from Afghan women during raids. She is part of a veterans’ panel advocating for recognition of women’s contributions in special operations.
Nicole Gee - As a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant, Gee served on a Female Engagement Team during Operation Allies Refuge in 2021, evacuating Afghan women and children from Kabul. She was killed in a suicide bombing but was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her role in saving an estimated 124,000 lives during the largest U.S. airlift in history.
These stories highlight that in modern warfare, “war is not fought by men or women, … but by soldiers.”
The history of women in the U.S. military is a testament to their courage, resilience, and dedication. From our nation’s founding to today, women have played pivotal roles in shaping the armed forces, breaking barriers, and championing gender equity. From disguising themselves to fight, to leading combat missions,
U.S. women have consistently demonstrated courage, adaptability, and patriotism in wartime. Their contributions have reshaped the military and expanded opportunities for future generations.
These women are proof that
Women can be Warriors.
Let us honor and remember the women who have served,
the women who continue to serve,
and those Women who gave All.
