Jane Jeffery: A nurse serving with the American Red Cross:
severely wounded during an air raid, refused to leave her post and continued to help others.
Beatrice M. MacDonald: wounded in Belgium during an air raid at a casualty
clearing station and lost sight in her right eye.
Helen Grace McClelland: also on duty with the surgical team at the British
casualty clearing station and cared for Beatrice MacDonald
during the air raid.
Eva Jean Parmelee: although wounded in air raid she continued to serve
throughout the emergency.
Isabelle Stambaugh: seriously wounded in an air raid at a British casualty
clearing station in Amiens, while working in the operating
room with a surgical team.
Reconstruction Aide Emma S. Sloan
Lenah S. Higbee, Superintendent, Navy Nurse Corps
Marie Louise Hidell (posthumously)
Lillian M. Murphy (posthumously)
Edna S. Pierce (posthumously)
Mary Roberts Wilson was the first woman to be awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in combat for her action during the battle of Anzio during World War II. With her Army evacuation hospital under German shellfire, Wilson continued supervising her nursing staff of 50, allowing the hospital to continue functioning. Tom Brokaw devoted an entire chapter to Wilson's exploits in his best-selling paean to World War II-era Americans, The Greatest Generation.
When the Germans bombed the field hospital at Anzio beach, Italy during WWII medical personnel evacuated
forty-two patients by flashlight without incident, and for their bravery
four nurses:1st Lt. Mary Roberts, 2d Lt. Elaine Roe, 2d Lt. Rita Virginia Rourke,
and 2d Lt. Ellen Ainsworth, received the first Silver Star medals awarded to
women in the U.S. Army. Ainsworth, who was killed during the attack, was
awarded the medal posthumously.
The first woman to receive The Air Medal was Lt Elsie S. Ott, Army Nurse Corps, awarded for her actions in 1943 as an air evac nurse en route from India to the U.S..
Lt Reba Whittle, (later Tobiason), Army Nurse Corps, was flying on an air evac mission when the plane was shot down by the Germans. She and her crew were captured and imprisoned. Lt Whittle was wounded yet performed nursing duties for the prisoners in the camp. They were repatriated to Switzerland. Lt Whittle was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.
F. Rosalind Westfall was a Red Cross nurse and was drafted in 1942. She elected to go into
flight training and was trained at Harding Field, LA. and Bowman Field,
KY. She started actively flying in May 1944 from Newfoundland to NY and
then the Azores. She flew into Prestwick, Scotland, Iceland, Bermuda,
Bangor ME, London, Paris and Miami. She flew a total of 1,299 hours and was
awarded the Air Medal April 6, 1946 at Keesler Field, Mississippi.
Crewmembers of the EP-3E Aries II Surveillance Plane who were detained in China received the Air Medal. Three are military women.
They are:
Lt. j.g. Regina Kauffman, USN, Warminster, Pennsylvania
Lieutenant Marcia Sonon, USN, Lenharstville, Pennsylvania
Aviation Machinist Wendy Westbrook, USN, Rock Creek, Ohio
Colonel Ruby Bradley is America's most decorated military woman. She served in WWII - and was a POW for 37 months in a Japanese prison camp.
Later she was a frontline U.S. Army nurse in Korea on the day
100,000 Chinese soldiers overran American troops and started
closing in on her hospital tent. Col. Bradley has earned 34 medals and citations for bravery, including two Bronze stars. She retired from the Army in 1963, but remained a nurse all her working life.
According to Arlington National Cemetery upon the death of Col. Bradley in 2002 at age 94 -
"On December 1, 1999, then 91 years of age, Col. Ruby Bradley received more than a dozen military awards to replace those she had lost over the years. She is the nation's most highly-decorated female veteran. Senator Rockefeller presented the medals and ribbons to Bradley, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, who lives in Spencer, West Virginia. She was a U.S. Army nurse and a POW for two years in the Philippines and was known as the "Angel in Fatigues" at Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila.
The replacement awards reportedly included the Legion of Merit medals, the Bronze Star, two Presidential Emblems, the Meritorious Unit Emblem, The American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army Occupational Medal with Japan clasp, three Korea Service medals, the Philippine Liberation Medal, the Philippine Independence Ribbon and the United Nations Service Medal.
The Bronze Star
One of the first women to receive The Bronze Star was 1Lt Cordelia E. Cook, Army Nurse Corps, during WWII in Italy. Lt Cook was also awarded The Purple Heart.
The Purple Heart
The first woman to receive The Purple Heart as a result of combat was 1Lt Annie G. Fox, while serving at Hickam Field during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec 7 1941. Lt Fox was later awarded the Bronze Star.
Lt. Annie G. Fox
Two nurses were awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received when the Japanese bombed their hospital on Bataan Rita Palmer, Hampton, New Hampshire, and Rosemary Hogan, Chattanooga, Oklahoma. Army Nurse Mary Brown Menzie received the Purple Heart as a result of injuries on Corregidor.
Several other military women were awarded the Purple Heart during WWII.
Over 1600 women were awarded medals including the DSM, Air Medal, DFC, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Soldiers Medal, Legion of Merit and the Purple Heart.
Jacqueline Fleck Kidd received the Purple Heart on Monday, January 14th
in a ceremony at
Ft. Belvoir, Davidson Air Field for injuries sustained while
on duty as an
Air Traffic Controller at the Pentagon Helipad on September 11th.
The Soldiers Medal
On March 22, 1989, Staff Sergeant Joan J. Hahnenberg, United States Army, was awarded The Soldiers Medal for heroism.
On 17 November 1988, Staff Sergeant Joan Jerilynn Hahnenberg saved the life of a fellow crewmember following an accident aboard the United States Army vessel, LT-981, near Lajes Field in the Azores. Placing herself in a position of extreme peril outside the bulwark of her vessel, Staff Sergeant Hahnenberg was able to grab onto and maintain a hold on a crewmember while he was in the water. She held this position for several minutes until futher assistance arrived. During this time, Sergeant Hahnenberg was in danger of being injured and tossed into the sea by the tow cable. Her prompt action, unselfish dedication and personal courage are in keeping with the highest tradition of the United States Army and the Non-commissioned Officer Corps.
On Sept. 1, 1999, Sgt. 1st Class Jeanne M. Balcombe, of the 1st Platoon, 55th Military Police Company, was posthumously awarded the Soldiers Medal for heroism in the face of danger.
While on duty on Aug. 21st 1999, Balcombe's quick thinking and selfless response safeguarded and protected others at the Troop Medical Clinic at Camp Red Cloud, Korea. She placed herself in harm's way between three soldiers and an armed gunman.
Sgt Jeanne M. Balcombe
On 24 January 1970 in Vietnam then SP5 Karen L. Offutt, WAC, U.S. Army,
risked her life to rescue Vietnamese adults and children from burning structures. Without regard for her personal safety and in danger from smoke, flames and falling debris she repeatedly entered the buildings to rescue children who had reentered their homes. She was to have received the Soldiers Medal but instead was given a certificate and told that women do not receive the Soldiers Medal.
SP5 Karen Offutt in 1970
On 7 April 2001, Karen Offutt, now a mother of 3, and grandmother of 2, was awarded The Soldiers Medal for her heroism in Vietnam of over thirty years ago.
Learn more about Karen by visiting her website at Walk With Me
The Distinguished Flying Cross
The first woman to receive the DFC was Amelia Earhart which sparked controversy and later it was changed to exclude civilians.
On December 28, 1944, the Distinguished Flying Cross was posthumously awarded to 1st Lieutenant Aleda E. Lutz. Lt. Lutz had flown over 800 hours when the C47 hospital plane evacuating wounded soldiers from the battlefront near Lyons, Italy, crashed killing all aboard.
As an Army Flight Nurse she flew 196 missions evacuating over 3,500 men. She earned six battle stars and was the first military woman to die in a combat zone in World War Two. Lt. Lutz was awarded the Air Medal four times, the Oak Leaf Cluster, The Red Cross Medal, and the Purple Heart. She was the first woman awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in a World War.
A VA Medical facility located in her home state of Michigan has been named after her - ironically it was built in 1950 and not so named until 1990 - the first VA facility to be named for a military woman. An Army Hospital Ship and a C-47 plane have also been named in her honor.
Lt.Aleda Lutz
During World War II, Roberta Schilbach Ross served as a 1st Lieutenant Army Flight Nurse, flew over 100 missions, over the Himalayas, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.
AF Pilot and sound barrier breaker Jacqueline Cochran was awarded the DFC.
Vice President Richard Cheney presents the Distinguished Flying Cross for valiant flying under fire to Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lori Hill in a ceremony at Fort Campbell, Ky. on Oct. 16. U.S. Army photo. Full story at DFC |
The Distinguished Service Medal
World War One Nurses Awarded the DSM:
Lillian Aubert, as Assistant Superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps, in the office of the Surgeon General. She died as the result of overwork; Residence, Shreveport, La.
Celia Brennan, Chief Nurse at the Toul Hospital Centre, France. Philadelphia, Pa
Katharine Brown, Chief Nurse of the Nantes Hospital Centre, France. Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Sophy Mary Burns, First Lieutenant, Chief Nurse of Base Hospital No. 16 at Bazoilles-sur-Meuse, France, and later of Mobile Hospital No. 9. Fort Sam Houston, Tex.
Reba G. Cameron, First Lieutenant, Chief Nurse at Plattsburgh Barracks, N.Y., and later of the General Hospital at Hampton, Va. San Francisco, Cal.
Edna M. Coughlin, Base Hospital No. 22, emergency medical team in an advanced area under fire.
Jane A. Delano, director, Dept. of Nursing, ARC
Alice H. Flash, Chief Nurse of the Meaves Hospital Centre, France. Hollywood, Cal.
Annie W. Goodrich, contract Nurse, organizer and first dean of the Army School of Nursing. New York City.
Carrie L. Howard, First Lieutenant, Chief Nurse at the Port of Embarkation, Hoboken, New Jersey. Washington, D.C.
Grace E. Leonard, First Lieutenant, assistant director of the Nursing Service, A.E.F. Fort Sheridan, Ill.
Beatrice Mary MacDonald, Chief Nurse, Presbyterian Hospital Unit.
Helen Grace McClelland, Base Hospital No. 10.
Sayres Louise Milliken, Captain, Chief Nurse of the base hospital at Camp Sevier, S.C., and later as assistant superintendent of Army Nurse Corps in office of Surgeon General. Washington, D.C.
Jane G. Malloy, First Lieutanant, Chief Nurse at the base hospital at Fort Devens, Mass. Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind.
Edith A. Mury, (Mrs. Edith A. Kershaw), Chief Nurse at the Nurses Mobilization Station, Ellis Island, New York, and later as assistant superintendent in the Surgeon General's Office. Oakland, Calif.
Adele S. Posten, Chief Nurse at Base Hospital No. 117 (Psychiatric unit) at La Fauche, France. White Plains, N. Y.
Maria B. Rhodes (Mrs. Clarence Cash), Chief of the Nurses Equipment Bureau of the Military Department. American Red Cross in Paris. San Benit, Tex.
Blance S. Rulon, Captain, Chief Nurse of Base Hospital No. 27, at Angers, France, and later as assistant to the Director of the Nursing Corps, A.E.F., at Tours, France, also in charge of the Claim Department of the Army Nurse Corps. Washington, DC.
Lillian J. Ryan, First Lieutenant, Chief Nurse at the Base Hospital Camp Merritt, N. J. Denver, Col.
Mary E. Sheehan, First Lieutenant, Chief Nurse of the Vichy Hospital Centre, France. El Paso, Tex.
Neena Shelton, First Lieutanant, assistant to the Director of Nursing Services, A.E.F., in Paris. Washington, D.C.
Catherine Glynn Sinnott, Second Lieutanant, Chief Nurse of Camp Hospital No. 28, France. Washington, D.C.
Ethel E. Sweet, (Mrs. Theodore Falconer), Chief Nurse of the Nurses Mobilization Station in New York City. Marlin, Tex.
Dora E. Thompson, superintendent, ANC.
Lynette L. Vandervort, Chief Nurse of the Mars Hospital Centre, France, also as Chief Nurse at the Nurses Embarkation Centre at Cannes, France. Fond du Lac, Wis.
During WWI several nurses were wounded as a result of enemy action. There were more than two hundred deaths largely caused by influenza and pneumonia, and even mustard gas exposure. The Distinguished Service Cross (second in rank only to the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration in combat) was awarded to 3 Army nurses. The Distinguished Service Medal (highest decoration in noncombat) was awarded to 23 Army nurses. In addition to other United States Army decorations, 28 Army nurses were awarded the French Croix de Guerre, 69 the British Royal Red Cross, and 2 the British Military Medal. Many Army nurses were named in British Army dispatches for their meritorious service.
This list is ongoing and involves a bit of search and research - additions are most welcome as my resources are quite limited.
Unless otherwise noted content © 1996 to date by Captain Barbara A. Wilson, USAF (Ret)
