The Women In Military Service For America Memorial is a unique, living memorial honoring all military women - past, present & future. Situated on 4.2 acres of land at the ceremonial entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, the Women's Memorial is the nation's first major national memorial honoring women who have served in our nation's armed forces during all eras and in all services. It was dedicated October 18, 1997. The history of women serving in defense of our nation began more than 220 years ago with women who served in the American Revolution and continues with those who serve today. ======================== Women In Military Service Did you know...? *that for service in the American Revolution, Margaret Corbin, dubbed "Captain Molly," became the first American woman to receive a military pension? At the defense of Ft. Washington, when her husband John Corbin was killed at the cannon, she assumed his post and was wounded. On July 6, 1779, the Continental Congress granted her money equal to one-half pay drawn by a soldier and one suit of clothes. Captain Molly is buried at West Point. *during the Civil War, women filled many roles supporting and serving with the Union and Confederate forces? Women helped organize and run public relief and sanitary commissions that gathered and distributed supplies to the armies. Women nurses and matrons staffed government and regimental hospitals of the Union and Confederacy, served as disguised male soldiers fighting at the front; as laundresses, cooks, and spies; and, at least one, as an Acting Assistant Surgeon tending to the wounded. *that over 1,500 nurses served with the Army in the Spanish-American War? These nurses served with the Army in Hawaii, Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, on the hospital ship Relief and in stateside hospitals. Dita Kinney, former contract nurse, became the first Superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps when it was founded in 1901. Esther Voorhees Hasson, one of the Relief nurses during the war became the first Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps in 1908. *the first women who enlisted in the United States military joined the Navy and Marine Corps in World War I? Over 12,000 of them served stateside "freeing a man to fight." Overseas, Army and Navy nurses, volunteers in the American Red Cross, the YMCA, YWCA, Salvation Army and American Women's Hospitals all worked together caring for the doughboys. Over 230 bilingual women telephone operators recruited by AT&T served overseas with the US Army Signal Corps. Over 400 women died as a result of their World War I service. *in World War II approximately 400,000 American military women served stateside and overseas? Women served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and as members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Women served in every theater of the war and in many nontraditional roles. Eighty-eight female military nurses were held prisoners of war. More than 460 women lost their lives during World War II. *women did not receive permanent military status until the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 (P.L. 625-80th Congress)? This bill, signed into law by President Truman on June 12, 1948, granted women permanent status in the Regular and Reserve forces of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and newly created Air Force. *during the Korean era over 50,000 women served stateside and overseas? In-country Korea, Army nurses served in Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (M.A.S.H.), and general hospitals, while Air Force nurses supported air evacuation missions and Navy nurses served on nearby hospital ships. *that 7,000 American military women served in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War? The majority were military nurses assigned to military hospitals, air evacuation, hospital ships, and field units. Some were wounded and the eight women who died are memorialized on the wall at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. *the first woman general was promoted in 1970? On November 8, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Public Law 90-130 removing legal ceilings on women's promotions that had kept them out of the general and flag ranks. This law also dropped the 2% ceiling on officer and enlisted strengths for women in the armed forces. *in the fall of 1976, women enrolled in the military service academies? Only months after President Gerald Ford signed Public Law 94-106, establishing the admission of women into the academies, 119 women entered West Point, 81 entered the US Naval Academy, and 157 enrolled at the US Air Force Academy. Women also enrolled in the Coast Guard Academy and the Merchant Marine Academy. *approximately 41,000 American military women deployed for Operation Desert Shield/Storm making it the largest single deployment of military women in U.S. history? Women served in all areas of the Operation except direct combat. Two women were prisoners of war and five women were killed in action. *women have participated in US military operations in Grenada, Panama, Honduras, Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, Rwanda, and Haiti? They deployed in expanded roles and with new risks because the laws banning women flying in combat were repealed in 1991, and those banning women from duty on combat ships were revoked in 1993. Today military women serve in all jobs and assignments stateside and overseas except in direct ground combat and in units with a high probability of direct enemy contact. There are currently an estimated 362,000 women in the armed forces, on Active Duty, and in the Guard and Reserves. *in March 1996, Sergeant Heather Lynn Johnsen became the first woman to earn the badge for guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier? Later that same year, Patricia Tracey, USN, and Carol Mutter, USMC, became the first women promoted to three-star rank. US military women are deployed throughout the world and have supported major missions including Operation Able Sentry on the Serbian/Macedonian border; Operation Joint Endeavor and Decisive Edge, NATO missions in Bosnia; and Operations Southern Watch, Pacific Haven and Provide Comfort, supporting the no-fly zone established against Iraq and offering humanitarian relief to Kurdish evacuees.