Native
Women In The Military
Women In Military Service For America Memorial Very little is known
about the contributions of Native American women to the United States
military. The Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation
is attempting to fill this gap by encouraging Native American women
veterans to register with the Memorial so that their stories may be
recorded and preserved. They are also conducting research on the
contributions of Native American women of earlier eras.
Historians have only recently rediscovered and verified the actions of
an Oneida woman, Tyonajanegen, at the
battle of Oriskany during the American Revolution (1775-1783).
Tyonajanegen was married to an American Army officer of Dutch descent.
She fought at her husband's side on horseback during the battle, loading
her husband's gun for him after he was shot in the wrist.
The
story of Sacajawea, the Shoshone woman
who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition of the early 19th
century, is somewhat better known. Much of what is Women common
knowledge is myth, however. Sacajawea has been remembered as a guide. In
reality, she served as an interpreter for members of the expedition, who
were unfamiliar with the Indian language. "Bird Woman's" service is
described in the journals kept by Army Captains Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark during the expedition.
Four
Native American Catholic Sisters from Fort Berthold, South Dakota worked
as nurses for the War Department during the Spanish American War (1898).
Originally assigned to the military hospital at Jacksonville, Florida,
the nurses were soon transferred to Havana, Cuba. One of the nurses,
Sister Anthony died of disease in Cuba and was buried with military
honors.
Fourteen Native American women served as members of the Army Nurse Corps
during World War I, two of them overseas. Mrs.
Cora E. Sinnard, a member of the Oneida Tribe and a graduate of
the Episcopalian School of Nursing in Philadelphia, served eighteen
months in France with a hospital unit provided by the Episcopal Church.
Charlotte Edith (Anderson) Monture of the Iroquois Nation also served as an Army nurse in France. Charlotte was born in 1890 in Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada. In 1917, she left her job as an elementary school nurse to join the Army Nurse Corps. She later referred to her service in France at a military hospital as "the adventure of a lifetime." Charlotte passed away in 1996, at the age of 106.
Nearly 800 Native American women served in the military during World War
II. Elva (Tapedo) Wale, a Kiowa, left
her Oklahoma reservation to join the Women's Army Corps. Private Tapedo
became an "Air WAC," and worked on Army Air Bases across the United
States.
Corporal Bernice (Firstshoot) Bailey of Lodge Pole, Montana, joined the Women's Army Corps in 1945 and served until 1948. After the war, she was sent to Wiesbaden, Germany, as part of the Army of Occupation.
Beatrice (Coffey) Thayer
also
served in the Army of Occupation in Germany. Beatrice remembers being
assigned to KP with German POWs, who were accompanied by armed guards.
Beatrice was in Germany when the Berlin Wall went up, and remained
Women Veterans in the Army until the 1970s.
Alida (Whipple) Fletcher
joined the Army during World War II and trained as a medical specialist.
She was assigned to the hospital at Camp Stoneman, California, which was
an Army port of embarkation for the Pacific. Alida was on duty the night
two ships loaded with
explosives collided at a nearby ammunition dump, killing approximately
400 sailors and wounding many more. The wounded were brought to the
hospital where Alida worked. She remembers that night as the most tragic
of her life.
First Lieutenant Julia (Nashanany) Reeves,
a member of the Potawatomie Indian Tribe of Crandon, Wisconsin, joined
the Army Nurse Corps in 1942, and was assigned to one of the first
medical Units shipped to the Pacific. The 52nd Evacuation Hospital Unit
was sent to New Caledonia before its members had received their Army
uniforms. When the hospital ship Solace arrived at New Caledonia, Julia
was assigned temporary duty aboard the ship.
The
following year, Julia was transferred to the 23rd Station Hospital in
Norwich, England, where she was stationed during the invasion of
Normandy. She remained in Norwich through V-J Day, returning shortly
afterward to the United States. During the Korean War, Julia mobilized
with the 804th Station Hospital.
Private Minnie Spotted-Wolf
of
Heart Butte, Montana, enlisted in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve in
July 1943. She was the first female American Indian to enroll in the
Corps. Minnie had worked on her father's ranch doing such chores as
cutting fence posts, driving a two ton
truck, and breaking horses. Her comment on Marine boot camp
"Hard but not too hard."
Ola Mildred Rexroat,
an Oglala Sioux from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, joined
the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) directly out of high school.
Her job was to tow targets for aerial gunnery students at Eagle Pass
Army Air Base in Texas. Towing targets for student gunners was a fairly
dangerous assignment, but "Rexy" was happy to be able to contribute to
the war effort in a meaningful way. After the war ended, Ola joined the
Air Force and served for almost ten years.
During the 1950s and 1960s, fewer women felt the call to military
service. The services, however, were in desperate need of womanpower
during the Korean conflict and the Vietnam War, and
conducted extensive recruitment campaigns aimed at young women.
Many Native American women answered their country's call.
Sarah
Mae Peshlakai, a member of the Navajo
Tribe from Crystal, New Mexico, enlisted in the Women's Army Corps in
1951 and served until 1957. Peshlakai trained as a medical specialist
and was assigned to Yokohama Army Hospital in Japan, where she helped
care for casualties from the Korean battlefields.
Verna Fender
entered the Navy during the Korean Conflict and trained at Bainbridge,
Maryland. She was severely injured during basic training and was sent to
a Navy hospital for physical rehabilitation. Undeterred, Verna returned
to Bainbridge and completed her training. The Navy assigned Verna to its
base in San Diego, California, where she completed her 3-year term of
enlistment, working in the departments of berthing and sectioning,
supply, and ordnance.
Shirley M. Arviso,
a Navajo of the Bitter Water Clan, served in the Navy from 1953 through
1963. She was the Communications Officer in charge of a group of people
who decrypted classified messages.
Pearl Ross,
a member of the Arikara Tribe from the Fort Berthold Reservation, joined
the Air Force in 1953, and trained as a medical specialist. Her first
assignment was to the Air Force hospital in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Pearl was
then assigned to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where she worked in
the 865th Medical Group at SAC HQ. During the Vietnam era, she saw many
men who had been wounded in the combat theater. Pearl volunteered for
overseas duty, but was turned down because the Air Force was hesitant to
send women to Vietnam.
Linda Woods
enlisted in the Air Force in the late 1950s and was on duty when
President Kennedy was assassinated. She remembers that the air base
where she was stationed went on full alert. A later assignment took her
to the southern United States during the Civil Rights movement. As a
non-white, she found the environment somewhat difficult, however, she
retained pride in her uniform as a woman of color.
Barbara Monteiro
joined the WAC in 1963 and took her basic and secretarial training at
Ft. McClellan. Alabama. Her first duty assignment was to Ft. Huachuca,
Arizona, where she worked for three years in the travel office and motor
pool in support of troop readiness during the Vietnam War. In 1966,
Monteiro was assigned to Ft. Richardson, Alaska, where she served as an
administration specialist at the Education Center for a year.
Lance Corporal Valla Dee Jack Egge
of
Dougherty, Oklahoma, served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the early 1960s
as the executive secretary to two commanding generals of the Parris
Island Marine Corps Base, Women Veterans South Carolina.
Increasing numbers of women, including Native Americans, entered the
military in the 1970s and 1980s. Patricia White
Bear joined the Navy in 1981. She trained as an instrument man
and served at sea repairing, adjusting and calibrating the wide variety
of mechanical measuring instruments used aboard ships.
Dolores Kathleen Smith, a Cherokee, graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1982. She completed navigator training and was assigned to a KC-135 unit. She served in the operational plans division of her unit and also as an instructor before retiring as a captain from the Air Force in 1990.
Darlene Yellowcloud
of
the Lakota Tribe was inspired to join the Army because so many of the
men in her family had served. Her grandfather, Bear Saves Life, was
killed in action in France during World War I. Her father, brothers,
brothers-in-law, uncles and cousins were all
veterans. Darlene was assigned to the U. S. Army in Korea as a
Specialist 4th Class.
Lawnikwa Spotted-Eaglefortune
joined the Army in 1988, and attended Basic Training at Fort Dix, New
Jersey. Acting as a guide-on carrier, she was injured when another
carrier grounded a guide iron through her foot into the ground. She
still has the scar, and now serves as a
member of the Virginia Air National Guard.
As of 1980, at least sixty Native American women were serving in the
Eskimo Scouts, a special unit of the Alaska National Guard.
The Eskimo Scouts patrol the western coastline of Alaska and the islands
separating Alaska and Russia. The Scouts are the only members of the
National Guard who have a continuous active duty mission. This unit was
organized during World War II, and the wives of scout battalion members
have always been involved in patrol missions.
Women were admitted as of official members in 1976, and only then began
to receive pay, benefits and recognition for their work. Scouts
currently patrol ice flows in the Bering Straits, monitor movements on
the tundra, and perform Arctic search and rescue efforts as required.
Native American women lost their lives in the service of their nation.
Katherine Matthews of Cherokee, North
Carolina, joined the Navy in the late 1970s and trained as an Aviation
Machinist's Mate. She died while serving in California in 1985.
Terri Ann Hagen, a former Army
medic, was a member of the Army National Guard when she was
killed fighting a fire on Storm King Mountain in Colorado in 1994.
Army
Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, of the Hopi
Nation was a member of 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss and was
ambushed near Nasiriyah, Iraq, on March 23, 2003. Lynch, Johnson and
others were taken prisoner. Nine Soldiers, including Piestewa, were
killed in action. She was posthumously promoted to Spc. Piestewa.
As
of 1994, 1,509 Native American women and Native Alaskan women were
serving in the military forces of the United States. Thousands more have
served in the military over time. The Women's Memorial has only 111
Native American women veterans registered to date, however. As more
Native American women veterans are registered at the Memorial, their
stories will be available to the interested public. Please help us
commemorate Native American History month by registering a Native
American veteran at the Memorial.
Courtesy of: Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation,
Inc.
Dept. 560 Washington, DC 20042-0560 800-222-2294 703-533-1155
wimsacura@aol.com
Journal #1104 from sdc for 6.2.08
Women In Military Service For America Memorial
Manataka American Indian Council:
NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN VETERANS