Military Women ‘Firsts’

More women are finding themselves within the military ranks, and we would like to honor some of the firsts.

First to Receive Medals

• The first and only woman to receive the Medal of Honor was  Dr. Mary E. Walker, a contract surgeon during the Civil War.
• The first woman to receive the Purple Heart was Annie G. Fox, while serving at Hickam Field during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
• The first woman to receive the Bronze Star was 1st Lt. Cordelia E. Cook, Army Nurse Corps, during WWII in Italy. Cook was also awarded the Purple Heart, becoming the first woman to receive two awards.
• Lt. Edith Greenwood was awarded the Soldiers Medal in 1943 for heroism during a fire at a military hospital in Yuma, Arizona.
• The first woman to receive the Air Medal was Lt. Elsie S. Ott for her actions in 1943 as an Air Evacuation Nurse.
• Barbara Olive Barnwell was the first woman awarded the Navy-Marine Corps Medal for heroism in 1953, who saved a soldier from drowning in 1952.
• Col. Oveta Culp Hobby, the first director of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), was the first woman to receive the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal in 1945.

The First to Enlist

• Philadelphian Loretta Walsh enlisted in March of 1917 and became the first female Yeoman in the Navy.
• Twin sisters Genevieve and Lucille Baker joined the Coast Guard during World War I.
• In August 1918, Opha M. Johnson enlisted as the first woman in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.
• Sgt. Esther M. Blake is considered the “first woman in the Air Force,” having enlisted in the first minute of the first hour of the first day the regular Air Force was authorized on July 8, 1948.

The First Military Woman Physician

Military commissions for women doctors were nonexistent prior to WWII. In 1940, American Medical Women’s Association petitioned the American Medical Association for support in changing the law excluding women from the military reserves. Previously, the AMA supported the military rank of women nurses but declined to lend support for women physicians. It wasn’t until 1943, when the physician supply could not keep up with the demand as the Army increased by thirty-fold, that the AMA and the Army and Navy Surgeon Generals withdrew their objections. The law was signed on April 16, 1943, and the first woman to be commissioned into the Army Medical Corps, Dr. Margaret D. Craighill, was given the rank of major.

First Women to attain Star Rank

• Army: Brig. Gen. Elizabeth P. Hoisington in 1970.
• Navy: Rear Adm. Fran McKee in 1976.
• Marine Corps: Brig. Gen. Margaret A. Brewer in 1978.
• Air ForceL Brig. Gen. Jeanne M. Holm in 1971.

First Women Nurses to attain Star Rank

• Army Nurse Corps: Brig. Gen. Anna May Hays in 1970
• Navy Nurse Corps: Rear Adm. Alene B. Duerk in 1972
• Air Force Nurse Corps: Brig. Gen. E. Ann Hoefly in 1972

First Women to Highest Enlisted Rank

• WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service): Master Chief Yeoman Anna Der-Vartanian in 1959.
• WAC: Sgt. Maj. Carolyn H. James in 1960.
• Marine Corps: Master Gunnery Sgt. Geraldine M. Moran in 1960.
• Women in the Air Force: Senior Master Sgt. Grace A. Peterson in 1960.
• United States Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARS): Master Chief Yeoman Pearl E. Faurie in 1964.