Celebrating women who serve
A COLUMN By Kathryn Ross
March is Women’s History Month. A lot of ideas have been running around in my head as I’ve tried to think some interesting fact about women to write about. I’ve thought of writing about successful women in history. I thought of writing about the most villainous women in history. While I was searching, I learned a lot. I guess that is what Women’s History Month is all about, trying to teach us, that women have had a substantial impact on the history of the world. In fact their impact is not that of a second class citizen or a submissive servant, but is instead is that of the right hand of a handshake that makes the world go round.
So what does that all mean to women today, to the youngsters in grade school, the girls in secondary school, the college coeds, women in the workforce, retirees, the old? It means that it is time to take pride in ourselves, our accomplishments, our triumphs, and our history.
I recently listened to the library book “The Women” by Kristin Hannah. It was about the women who worked as combat nurses in country during the Vietnam War. I’ve also read or listened to books about women who were nurses and pilots in World War II. And I caught the movie “6 Triple 8” on Netflix about black women who used their special skills to sort out the problem of mail getting to servicemen and mail from servicemen getting to the Homefront during World War II. In each case, the women successfully dealt with the everyday problems created by their jobs but were never recognized for their ability and service by their male counterparts, until decades later.
Out of the 3,520 Medals of Honor that have been awarded, only one has been awarded to a woman.
Dr. Mary Walker of Oswego, NY became a doctor in 1855 when she graduated from the Syracuse Medical College. When the Civil War broke out, she wasn’t allowed to join the Army as a surgeon because of her gender. So, she worked for free in Washington, where she established the Woman’s Relief Organization to help wives of wounded soldiers. After that, she went to Virginia where she cared for wounded soldiers in field hospitals. She was captured by Rebels and was held prisoner for several months. In 1865, President Andrew Johnson awarded her the Congressional Medal of Honor based on her actions that saved the lives of many soldiers. However, she was a civilian and in 1917 the medal was rescinded. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter reinstated the honor.
Historically, 350,000 women served in the US Armed Services during World War II. They served as WACs, WAVEs, and WASPs in more than 209 combat jobs both statewide and in every theater of the war. However, just because they served didn’t mean that their military service was recognized or appreciated by the government or by other women.
The names of eight women, all nurses, are among the 58,000 names etched on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Most of those women were killed in airplane and or helicopter crashes, but one, First Lieutenant Sharon Ann Lane, of Canton, OH was killed during a rocket attack in July 1969.
Out of the 265,000 women who served in the Armed Services during the Vietnam War over 11,000 served in country. Not all were nurses. They served in communications, intelligence and in administrative jobs.
I had the honor of meeting one who served in communications, Patches McGee. She was among those Vietnam Veterans who were welcomed home in the Los Angeles, CA Vietnam Veterans Unity Parade in 1987. She was called Patches because she wore an army shirt festooned with the patches of every unit she covered as a journalist in Vietnam.
“There have been women serving on the battlefields of America since 1776,” said Diane Carlson Evans founder of the Woman’s Vietnam Memorial, “and we deserve the recognition of our country.”
There are many women who have served in the Armed Services both during peace and during war, in combat and non-combat roles. All that is just one page out of women’s history, but it is one page that should be read and reread by every boy and girl, man and woman.
