Revolutionary War
• DEBORAH SAMSON**
• In October of 1778 Deborah Samson of
Plympton, Massachusetts disguised herself as a
young man and presented herself to the
American army as a willing volunter to oppose
the common enemy. She enlisted for the whole
term of the war as Robert Shirtliffe
• For three years she served in various duties and
was wounded twice
• Deborah Samson married Benjamin Gannett of
Sharon and they had three children. During
George Washington's presidency she received a
Disguised as a man Frances Clalin
served many months in Missouri
artillery and cavalry units.
(By courtesy of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library)
• Both the Union and Confederate armies forbade the
enlistment of women. Women soldiers of the Civil War
therefore assumed masculine names, disguised
themselves as men, and hid the fact they were female.
• it is impossible to know with any certainty how many
women soldiers served in the Civil War. Estimates place
as many as 250 women in the ranks of the Confederate
army
• Writing in 1888, Mary Livermore of the U.S. Sanitary
Commission remembered that: Some one has stated
the number of women soldiers known to the service as
little less than four hundred
In the post–Civil War era
• Frank Moore's Women of the War, published in 1866,
devoted an entire chapter to the military heroines of the
North.
• Loreta Velazquez published her memoirs in 1876. She
served the Confederacy as Lt. Harry Buford, a self-
financed soldier not officially attached to any regiment.
• The press seemed unconcerned about
the women's actual military exploits.
Rather, the fascination lay in the simple
fact that they had been in the army.
• The army itself,
however, held no
regard for women
soldiers, Union or
Confederate. Indeed,
despite recorded
evidence to the
contrary, the U.S.
Army tried to deny that
women played a
military role
Discharge document for a soldier with "Sextual incompatibility." (NARA,
Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780's-1917, RG 94)
• Sarah Edmonds Seelye served
two years in the Second Michigan
Infantry as Franklin Thompson
(right). In 1886, she received a
military pension. (Courtesy of the
State Archives of Michigan)
She participated in
approximately forty battles
and skirmishes
Much of the information available on female
Civil War soldiers is found in their obituaries.
(NARA, Records of the Adjutant General's
Office, 1780's–1917, RG 94)
• The women soldiers of the Civil War
engaged in combat, were wounded and
taken prisoner, and were killed in action.
They went to war strictly by choice,
knowing the risks involved. Their reasons
for doing so varied greatly. Some, like
Budwin and Hook, wished to be by the
sides of their loved ones. Perhaps others
viewed war as excitement and travel.
Working class and poor women were
probably enticed by the bounties and the
promise of a regular paycheck. And of
course, patriotism was a primary motive.
The pattern of women disguising themselves
as “men” to serve continued through the
next several wars.
Mexican War
Spanish American
War for the Philippines
• WWI
Thirty Thousand Women
Were There
• 1901 and 1908 the
establishment of the Army
and Navy Nurse Corps
opened the door for women in
the military but ever so
slightly
• These were the first women
Lettie Gavin's "American Women in World War
in the U.S to be admitted to
I - They Also Served", 1997, University Press
of Colorado.
some military rank and
WWII
• Congresswoman Rogers introduced a bill
on May 28 th, 1941, to establish a
Women's Army Auxiliary Corps for service
with the Army of the United States. By
virtue of its being an auxiliary corps there
was no hint of full military status for
women
• The bill was dissected, bisected, stalled,
lost, amended, sandbagged, and all but
trashed until General George C. Marshall
took an interest
Pearl Harbor Changed the view
• Military nurses were very much involved at Pearl
Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941
• Eighty-two Army nurses were serving at three
Army Medical Facilities in Hawaii that infamous
December morning. Hundreds of casualties
suffering from burns and shock were treated by
Army and Navy nurses
• The Chief Nurse at Hickam Field, 1st Lt. Annie
G. Fox, was the first of many Army nurses to
receive a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
• Four days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor the
Bureau of the Budget stopped objecting,
• Womens Naval Reserve and the Marine
Corps Womens reserve.
• the first WAAC contingent was serving at
the Allied Forces Headquarters in Algiers,
North Africa
• By January of 1944 the first WACs arrived
in the Pacific and in July of 1944 ,WACs
landed on the beach at Normandy
• There were over one hundred thousand
women in uniform at this point in time
Nurses
• Two days after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor, 5 Navy nurses on
Guam were taken prisoner
• They were repatriated in August
of 1942.
• Nurses received 1,619 medals,
citations, and commendations
during the war, reflecting the
courage and dedication of all
who served. Sixteen medals
were awarded posthumously to
• When the flag waving stopped and Johnny
came marching home, G.I. Jane was out
in left field without a ball game, and
millions of civilian women were literally
kicked out of jobs and sent back to the
kitchen. The war was over and there was
no place for women in the military in the
minds and hearts of many. The buzz word
and out- processing
was demobilization irony digression: When Eleanor
Poetic
Roosevelt Todhunter School
• Eleanor Roosevelt ago,taught at theto do with the
years
had muchmottos, posted on
one of her
wall , was "Be All of You Can Be!"
pushing the regularization Thatwomen in the
military.
• General Eisenhower strongly
recommending that women become a part
of the U.S. military.
• On the 12th of June, then President Harry
Truman signed Public Law 625, The
Women's Armed Services Act of 1948 in to
effect.
• A law that was vague and full of loopholes.
But it opened the door for dedicated
women to serve their country in peace
time. One thing it did not do, that is often
misinterpreted, is create separate
women's branches, corps or forces. The
KOREAN WAR (police action)
• When General MacArthur landed at
Inchon, Army Nurse Corps officers also
came ashore on the very same day of
invasion. The 13 Army nurses of the 1st
MASH and those of the 4th Field Hospital
made the landing and by the end of 1950
over two hundred Army Nurse Corps
officers were in Korea
• During the Korean era over 120, 000
women were on active duty. In addition to
• By 1950's, almost a million women had
worn the uniform of the United States
Armed Forces. They had been prisoners
of war; they had been wounded; they flew
planes, planned strategies, nursed the
casualties, and died for this country.
Viet Nam
Over five hundred WACs were stationed in Vietnam.
Women Marines were in Vietnam.
Over six hundred Women in the Air Force were there.
Army, Navy and Air Force Nurses and Medical Specialists
numbered over six thousand.
Untold numbers of Red Cross, Special Services, Civil Service and
countless other women were there.
Accurate records on how many women were there, what decorations
they earned, where they served - and most important - what after
effects they have suffered - and continue to suffer - are nonexistent.
http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/
MANY OF THE FOLLOWING SLIDES ARE FROM SANDI CLAUSON
Numbers of Female Veterans
• There are about 1.4 million women vets
• From the American Revolution to Panama,
Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq,
women have served in every conflict
• 33,000 women served in WW I
• 500,000 served in WWII
• 120,000 served in Korean War
• 10,000 women deployed during Vietnam
Military Women Today
• Constitute almost 15% of active duty
forces; 5% all vets are women.
• About 216,000 women are on active duty
today with another 150,000 in the reserves
and National Guard
• Their roles have changed to include more
involvement in combat zones
WOMENS ROLES PAST AND PRESENT
400 women generals and admirals on
active duty
NURSES
STAFF SUPPORT
MASH UNITS / HOSPITALS
CREW ON MEDICAL EVACUATIONS
INTELLIGENCE POSITIONS
OPERATIONS GROUPS
INFORMATION OFFICERS
CLERICAL
Naval Pilots Commanders of Naval
Policy Changes
In spite of a presidential commission advising
against lifting the female exclusion, it was
lifted.
1992: The Defense Authorization Act
repealed combat exclusion law for women
pilots in the Navy and Air Force
1993: President Clinton signed the military
bill ending combat exclusion for women on
combatant ships
1994: Defense Sec. Aspin approved a new
gen’l policy to allow Army women to serve
with some ground combat units during
fighting.
Policy Changes
• Female officers can serve in all of the
Navy’s officer communities except
submarines and with SEALS, and that is
under review.
• Women can occupy 93% of the officer
billets in the Navy and are eligible to
serve in 97% of career fields; 10 women
now command ships.
Military Positions Closed
• Army: infantry, armor, cannon field
artillery, short range defense artillery
• Navy: submarine warfare, seals, fire
control techs, missile techs, sonar techs in
submarine component.
• Marine Corps: infantry, armor, field
artillery, security force guard protecting
nuclear material, amphibious, assault
units, and fleet anti-terrorism security
teams
• Air Force: combat control, special forces,
Studies of PTSD involving
women soldiers
• The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment
study (NVVRS) is the only national study of
Vietnam vets that included women.
• Of the 1,632 Vietnam vets in study, 432 were
women, most were RNs and over ½ had
served for 4 yrs.
• Study found that 27% suffered from PTSD
during their post war lives
• PTSD affects more than 5 million Americans
during the course of a year and 30% are
Other Study Findings R/T Sexual
Trauma
• A Dept. of Defense study in 1996 found
that 69% of women experienced some
form of sexual harassment while on duty.
• Often they do not report the crime due to
issues of loyalty to their service, betrayal,
role identification-soldier/victim.
• They may be medically boarded or given
bad discharges, effecting their careers,
and future.