Revolutionary War

1
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 letter
  inviting Robert Shirtliffe, or rather Mrs.
  Gannett, to visit Washington. During her stay at
  the capital a bill was passed granting her a
  pension, in addition to certain lands, which she
  was to receive as an acknowledgment for her
  services to the country in a military capacity as
  a Revolutionary Soldier

2
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)
3

• 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

4
In the postCivil 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.

5

• 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)
6

• 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
7
Much of the information available on female Civil
War soldiers is found in their obituaries. (NARA,
Records of the Adjutant General's Office,
1780's1917, RG 94)
8

• 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. Sarah Edmonds
  wrote in 1865, "I could only thank God that I was
  free and could go forward and work, and I was not
  obliged to stay at home and weep."(25) Obviously,
  other soldier-women did not wish to stay at home
  weeping, either.

9

• The pattern of women disguising themselves as
  men to serve continued through the next several
  wars.
• Mexican War
• Spanish American
• War for the Philippines

10

• WWIThirty 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 in the U.S to be
  admitted to some military rank and status.
• Nurses were wounded, and l died overseas and are
  buried in military cemeteries far from home

Lettie Gavin's "American Women in World War I -
They Also Served", 1997, University Press of
Colorado.
11
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
• the Bureau of the Budget continued to stall
• General Marshall literally ordered the War
  Department to create a womens corps.
• However an event was to make the creation of a
  womens corp a necessity.

12
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, planners
  began to plan and a director, a training center
  and the appropriate equipment was gathered.
• Finally on May 14th 1942 the bill to "Establish
  a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps" became law

13

• 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 (non nurses)

14
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 nurses who
  died as a result of enemy fire. Thirteen flight
  nurses died in aircraft crashes while on duty.
• Countless women served in all branches of the
  service and yet were denied full miltary status.

15

• 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 was
  demobilization and out- processing
• Eleanor Roosevelt had much to do with pushing the
  regularization of women in the military.

             Poetic irony digression When
Eleanor Roosevelt taught at the Todhunter School
years ago, one of her mottos, posted on the wall
, was "Be All That You Can Be!"
16

• 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
  only unit to retain that distinction was the WAC.
  The rest of the women in the other branches of
  service were, for all intents, but not every
  purpose, fully integrated
• It just didn't happen that way.

17
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 the nurses actually
  in Korea, many women served at support units
  nearby, in Japan and other far eastern countries

18

• 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.

19
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/
20
MANY OF THE FOLLOWING SLIDES ARE FROM SANDI
CLAUSON
21
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

22
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

23
WOMENS ROLES PAST AND PRESENT400 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 Ships

24
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 genl
  policy to allow Army women to serve with some
  ground combat units during fighting.
• And, the USS Eisenhower, a Naval combat aircraft
  carrier received its first 60 women.

25
Policy Changes

• Female officers can serve in all of the Navys
  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.
• 238 female Naval officers serve as Pilots and
  Naval Flight Officers 54 women have reported to
  combat aviation squadrons.

26
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, rotary
  aircraft, weather assignments with infantry/spec.
• Except all coast guard occupations are open

27
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 women vets who
  are at twice the risk to develop PTSD than men.

28
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.