JUNE 22, 2023 – Before there could be women in the Armed Services, there were the pioneers who served in traditional roles as nurses, midwives, clerks, seamstresses, laundresses and cooks for troops in camp.
To remember all the ways in which women have served, the Army Women’s Museum partnered with the Department of Veterans Affairs for two panels and a luncheon June 13 in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Armed Services Integration Act of 1948.
Guest speakers included Retired Col. Christine “Nickey” Knighton, the first Army woman to command a tactical combat arms battalion; retired Lt. Col. Joyce Henderson, 23 years as a military human resources office chief military personnel officer; retired Col. Dawn Brotherton, U.S. Air Force veteran; Tonya Meunier, Army veteran; LaTisha Cobb, Army veteran; retired Lt. Col. Vaneada Harvey, Women Veteran’s Interactive; Maria Seagren, Navy veteran; and Beverly VanTull, Army veteran and Virginia Women Veterans program manager.
“It’s been an honor to partner with the Department of Veterans Affairs because we share such common interests. This has been a great opportunity to bring veterans together to celebrate where we are going in the future as well as where we have been in the past,” said Tracy Bradford, the Army Women’s Museum Curator.
It wasn’t until June 12, 1948, that President Harry S. Truman would sign into law the Women’s Armed Service Integration Act. This bill brought forth a permanent presence of women in the military.
“I really see this 75th anniversary as an opportunity for women to really step forward and step out of the shadows,” VanTull said. “How special is it, that every woman that you’ve met that has served in the military, has said, ‘I want to serve,’ and has served voluntarily? Being able to voluntarily enlist and serve actively is a direct result of this act. The signing of the Women’s Armed Service Integration Act by President Harry S. Truman in 1948 allowed me to be able make the choice to enlist on my own.”
Still, only a small percentage of American women choose to enlist.
“In the United States, there is only one percent of our population that goes into the military, Cobb said. Of that one percent, only two percent are women.
“Two, that’s it.” she said.
But, woman have a long history of service to the country.
During the Revolutionary War, most women served in traditional roles as nurses, seamstresses and cooks, according to information from the U.S. Army Women’s History Museum.
Some courageous women served in combat either alongside their husbands or disguised as men. Some women even operated as spies, alerting troops to enemy movement, transporting contraband and carrying out messages.
Since few questions were asked at the recruiter’s station in 1861, more than 400 women secretly enlisted in the Army disguised as men to fight in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Women assumed new responsibilities at home and on the battlefield. About 6,000 women served as nurses in the convalescent and U.S. government hospitals during the war.
An epidemic of typhoid fever created a need for highly qualified nurses during the Spanish-American War. Recognizing this, the surgeon general requested and received congressional authority on April 28, 1898. The Army contract nurses performed exemplary skills during this time, leading to the Army establishing a permanent Nurse Corps in 1901.
Upwards of 25,000 out of the 35,000 women serving In World War I served overseas. In 1916, the National Service School was organized by the Women’s Naval Service to prepare women for war and national disasters. Cooperation of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps led to thousands of women being skillfully trained for national service. Women were taught how to manufacture surgical dressings and bandages, signal work, military calisthenics and drill, telephone operating, and many more useful skills.
Throughout the war efforts, women began to fill vacancies in offices, shops, and factories all over the country. Women became clerical workers, typists, interpreters, and telephone operators. Former roles dominated by men now became occupied by women. Among many of these roles, women worked as physicians, physical therapists, dentists, pathologists, laboratory technicians, small factory and warehouse operators, decoders, librarians, administrators, munitions workers, dietitians, journalists, social workers, and architects, according to the U.S. Army Women’s History Museum.
It wasn’t until the threat of World War II, that women would be thought of in the Army as more than just serving in the Army Nurse Corps.
On May 15, 1941, the first congresswoman ever from New England, Representative Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, introduced a bill to create a Women’s Auxiliary. This would enable women to serve in the Army in noncombat positions.
“I was resolved that our women would not again serve with the Army without the same protection the men got,” Rogers stated at the time.
On May 15, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill that established a women’s corps in the U.S. Army into law, this created the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps which granted women official military status.
Due to the exceptional service of military women during World War II, the Women’s Armed Service Integration Act was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on June 12, 1948. This year honored the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act.
Resources for this article included the United States Army Women’s Museum at https://awm.lee.army.mil/
By Ericka Gillespie