This portion of the following speech was given by Col. Dee Muscowitz (ret.) during the Army birthday celebration in June in Melbourne, Florida:
This portion of the following speech was given by Col. Dee Muscowitz (ret.) during the Army birthday celebration in June in Melbourne, Florida:
Traditionally, the Army Ball celebrates the service of the brave men who serve in the combat arms. We remark about their bravery, their selflessness and their sacrifice.
It is only right that we do this because they have unselfishly placed their lives on the line for our liberty and freedom. The strength of our nation rests with those who defend it — who keep it and protect it for the generations to come.
This year, we are going to pause to celebrate a behind the scenes group that until recently has gone unnoticed.
Their quiet selfless service has been crucial to our nation. When called, they were there, and when no longer needed they returned quietly to their traditional roles.
They are all the women who have served in the Army from the American Revolution to the present day. We have a proud heritage, and I would like tonight to take a short walk not through “HIStory” — but through “HERstory.”
Molly Pitcher earned her nickname by carrying water and grog to her husband and other American artillerymen of the Revolution. Her fame came at the Battle of Monmouth when her husband collapsed in battle and she took his place, firing the cannon until the battle was finished.
There were others in the American Revolution. They served as scouts, spies and messengers.
Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man and enlisted. It was not until she was severely wounded that a physician discovered she was a woman. For her efforts, she was quietly discharged from the Army and later awarded a disability bonus and pension of $4 a month.
Following the Revolution, women followed their soldier husbands as they helped to settle the frontier.
Suffering the same privations and enduring the same hardships, they, too, served.
In 1861, our nation divided to fight brother against brother, so, too, did the women of our nation.
They served in the Confederacy and with Union forces, mostly in traditional roles such as cooks and nurses. Others served as scouts and spies.
One woman of note was Dr. Mary Walker. She was the first woman doctor in the Army and the only woman to ever be awarded the Medal of Honor.
After being denied a commission, she began her work with the Army as a volunteer and was eventually ordered to duty to replace a surgeon. Her medical superiors questioned her credentials and her competency, but it did not deter her. She rode daily through the battle lines providing care for the sick and wounded.
In 1864, she was captured and kept prisoner for four months. She regained her freedom in a prisoner of war exchange and later noted she viewed the exchange as a source of pride because she was exchanged “man for man.”
For her service, she was paid the handsome sum of $436.36.
Gradually, the role of women began to change.
In 1901, the Army Nurse Corps was established.
In 1917, General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, requested bilingual enlisted women to serve on the front lines as telephone operators. The law at the time only allowed women to join the Army as nurses, but the Army found a way to bypass the law. More than 200 civilian women volunteered to serve in England and France under contract with the Army Signal Corps.
These civilian volunteers were known as “hello girls.” They had no rank, no benefits and no entitlements. Still, they volunteered. They served, and at war’s end when they were no longer needed they returned quietly to civilian life.
As World War II approached, the role of women in the Army began to evolve.
The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps — later known as the Women’s Army Corps — came into existence. They were the first women other than nurses to serve with the Army.
About 150,000 women eventually served, releasing the equivalent of seven divisions of men for combat roles. Once in the Army, women had other obstacles to overcome: they could not give orders to men, their ranks were different and their pay was less. Of the military services, only the Army allowed them to serve overseas.
Still, women, including my mother and several of you, volunteered and many women served. They were not out there opening doors for women, they were doing it for their country in a fight against a formidable enemy.
All were trained as non-combatants but they often served in hazardous duty areas.
• 1500 WACS were in London during the German bombings. Seventeen received Purple Hearts for injuries received.
• A platoon of WAC communications specialists accompanied the advance headquarters of General Mark Clark’s V Corps into Italy.
• Sixteen nurses were killed in action; 1,600 nurses were decorated for meritorious service and bravery under fire.
• Sixty-six Army nurses were captured at Bataan and Corregidor during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. They served the next three years as prisoners of war, caring for the sick inmates at Santo Tomas.
• Army nurses went ashore to establish hospitals five days after the first allied landing at Anzio — six of them later were killed in bombing attacks.
At the end of the war, most returned to their homes and to civilian life, but a small group were allowed to remain on active duty.
In 1950, these women were trained and ready to help when duty called them to Korea. Within four days of the first U.S. troop landings, nurses arrived to set up hospitals and care for the wounded.
In all, about 540 women served in Korea.
“HERstory” continues during the Vietnam era.
In all, nearly 11,000 women, mostly nurses, served there. About three-quarters of us were exposed to combat.
We did not just hear the war, we saw it.
We felt it.
We lived it.
And eight of us died for it — our names are etched on “The Wall” of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.
One former nurse sums up the feelings of many of us when she stated, “I did not have to recover from killing somebody. I had to recover because I could not save anyone.”
Following Vietnam, the role of women in the Army has continued to evolve.
In 1978, the Women’s Army Corps was disestablished. Women would now train and work side by side with their male counterparts.
Today:
• We can be admitted to the service academies — at West Point since 1976, three women have been 1st captain and one has been class valedictorian (Hilo resident and retired combat veteran Col. Debra M. Lewis graduated in the first class with women from West Point).
• We can become general officers.
• We are promoted equally with our male counterparts.
• We serve in all branches except the direct combat roles of the infantry, armor and field artillery and that is about to change.
During the decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, women, my sister and I’m sure some of your granddaughters and nieces included, have been there doing the jobs they were trained to do in communications, medicine, intelligence, fire fighting, etc.
They drive trucks, fly helicopters, man missile sites, guard POWs and many other nontraditional duties. And they do it like the professionals they were trained to be. As of April 2013, 143 have given their lives doing so.
Today, there is a new generation on the horizon and we hope and pray we never have to send them into harm’s way. …
“Women veterans often face tougher challenges than their male counterparts. They are more likely to be uninsured, unemployed, divorced and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder — often the result of a sexual assault,” Lewis said.
She cites a recent study: “Women Veterans: The Long Journey Home.” This disabled American veterans report shows service gaps for women in health care, transition services, disability compensation, employment and housing.
The research reveals America’s nearly 300,000 women veterans are put at risk by a system designed for and dominated by male veterans.
This report paints a compelling picture of federal agencies and community service providers that consistently fail to understand women are impacted by military service and deployment differently than men.
And it points to changes that are needed in the overall culture and services provided by the federal government and local communities, listing 27 specific recommendations.
“The number of women veterans is growing, and our country is simply not doing enough to meet their health, social and economic needs,” said Joy J. Ilem, DAV’s deputy national legislative director. …