CATHY WILLIAM
Cathy William was born around 1844 in Independence, Missouri, to a free father and a slave mother. This girl is known around the world for her outstanding work for her country.
She is known worldwide as one of the trailblazers in American history, in addition to being the first documented African-American woman to enlist in the U.S. Army,
and the first known woman to serve as a Buffalo Soldier. Williams spent her early years working as a domestic slave on a plantation near Jefferson City. During the Civil War, enslaved people were often labeled “prohibited” and forced into supporting roles for the military.
And during this time, Williams forced herself to work as a cook and washerwoman for the 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was a great way to educate herself about military life. After the war, struggling to find employment, Williams made a bold and risky decision.
And in 1866, she disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the U.S. Army under the name “William Cathey” and was assigned to the 38th Infantry Regiment—one of the African American units known as the Buffalo Soldiers—and served in the New Mexico Territory at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, and later at Fort Cummings and Fort Byrd.
Although she never saw or participated in combat, she carried a rifle like all soldiers, marched with the troops, and performed guard duty like all other soldiers. Her service lasted about two years, until 1868, when her true identity was discovered during a hospital stay, and she was honorably discharged, and her records noted her service under a male alias.
In 1892, Williams applied for a military pension, citing her years of service, but was denied. She died shortly thereafter, around 1893. Although her life ended in hardship, Cathy Williams’ life story is a testament to extraordinary courage and determination. Her legacy reflects the limited choices available to black women in the 19th century and the incredible lengths to which some went to serve their country and gain freedom on their own terms.
JOAN OF ARC
Joan of Arc, the world’s second military woman.
Born in Dormy, a small village in France around 1412, this peasant girl, who, due to her skills and abilities, became one of the most famous figures in French history. Deeply religious from an early age, the girl claimed to hear divine voices, in which her priority was Saints Michael, Catherine, and Margaret, urging her to save France from English domination during the Hundred Years’ War.
Convinced of her sacred mission, she set out to support the French Crown Prince Charles and help him reclaim his rightful throne, becoming the first girl to succeed in her mission.
Not only that, but at the age of 17, Joan convinced the Dauphin to lead the French army; her conviction and courage inspired the soldiers, resulting in a crucial victory at the Siege of Orléans in 1429. This victory boosted the morale of the French army and turned the tide of the war.
She led the French forces to further victories and played a key role in the coronation of Charles VII at Reims, a key milestone in solidifying his claim to the throne. However, Joan’s growing influence made her a target. Unfortunately, in 1430, she was captured by the English allies, the Burgundians, and handed over to their enemies.
She was tried by a pro-English ecclesiastical court and falsely accused of heresy and witchcraft. Despite her passionate defense, she was found guilty and executed on May 30, 1431, at the age of just 19. Decades later, Joan of Arc’s name was cleared of all wrongdoing, and her image transformed from heretic to hero.
In 1920, she was canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Today, the French government still remembers her as a national heroine and a symbol of courage, faith, and patriotism. Her leading role in France’s wars is remembered throughout the world as a great figure.
ANN DUNWOODY
Born in 1953 at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Anne Dunwoody is still known as a prominent figure in American military history.
Not only that, but she served in the US Army as the first four-star general. She came from a family that had a strong connection to the military and had roots in military strongholds, with her relatives serving in conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War.
She began her education by graduating from the State University of New York at Cortland in 1975, and initially planned to pursue a career in physical education. However, her involvement in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) led her to a fulfilling military career spanning thirty-eight years.
After choosing the military as a career, she broke through significant barriers and forged her own path in the U.S. Army, like her elders, throughout her service, including commanding units in the Gulf War and becoming the first woman to lead a battalion at Fort Bragg.
Then, in 2008, after honing her skills, she was appointed to oversee the U.S. Army Materiel Command, solidifying her role as a trailblazer for women in the armed forces. After retiring in 2012, she continued to advocate against sexual assault in the military.
Dunwoody’s legacy includes numerous awards for her service, which highlight her impact on military culture and the advancement of women in leadership roles. And currently living a beautiful life with her husband, Craig Brochi, in Tampa, Florida.
KRISTEN GREIST
In 2011, Kristen Griest was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Military Police branch– an option available to women that she felt would give her experience closest to the infantry.
She was assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team “Currahee” of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), where she served as an MP Platoon Leader from 2012-2014.
She also deployed to Afghanistan in 2013, where she led over 100 missions outside the wire, performing convoy escorts and working with the Afghan Army during Operation Enduring Freedom. During this deployment, she was awarded a Bronze Star Medal.
In January 2015, the Army invited Griest to join a select group of 109 women to attend Army Ranger School out of an application pool of 400. After a mandatory pre-Ranger School course, only 19 women were invited to begin Ranger School training. On August 21, 2015, Kristen Griest and Shaye Haver became the first two women to earn Ranger tabs.
Kristen was also promoted to Captain the same day. In April 2016, Captain Griest earned her blue Infantry cords upon graduation from the Maneuver Captains Career Course. She transferred from her Military Police unit and became the first female infantry officer in United States history.
She was assigned to the 4th Ranger Training Battalion of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade at Ft Benning as a platoon tactical trainer, where she would become an instructor for the Darby Phase of Ranger School.
Captain Griest took command of Bravo Company, 2-505th Parachute Infantry Regiment in April of 2017, and is currently serving in that position in the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.
HARRIET TUBMAN
Harriet Tubman etched her place in history while traversing long distances and guiding runaway slaves to freedom.
But historians also credit the Maryland native as being the first female to lead a combat regiment. She spearheaded a Union Army raid during the Civil War. To honor Tubman’s contributions to the U.S. military and her lifetime achievements, the Army Surgeon General and Army Chaplain Corps hosted a ceremony in Washington on Wednesday to pay tribute to the woman.
Who freed at least 70 slaves while making about 13 trips back to Maryland 170 years ago.“When Harriet Tubman was making her mark on our world, people likely didn’t really see her,” said Maj. Gen. Deb Kotulich, Army Recruiting and Retention Task Force director.
“She was able to slip in and out of spaces often unseen because those around her didn’t expect her to have to ability to do anything out of the ordinary. “But she was … helping our military, saving lives and ultimately impacting the course of the U.S. Army’s fight against the Confederacy.”On June 2, 1863, Tubman led 150 African American Union Soldiers in the Combahee Ferry Raid, an operation that rescued more than 700 slaves, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Wednesday’s ceremony celebrated the operation’s 160th anniversary this past summer, and next month will mark 174 years since Tubman made her escape to freedom. Tubman served as a nurse and Union spy, using her navigation skills that she developed during her time travelling on the Underground Railroad.
Tubman, already familiar with the terrain and clandestine activities in the region, helped the Union with raid planning and went on reconnaissance missions. Tubman’s abilities helped educate future generations of Soldiers on the importance of battlefield sustainment. The Military Intelligence Corps inducted Tubman into its Hall of Fame in June 2021.
“She knew the field, she knew the environment, and she knew what was happening in the world where she conducted her operations,” said Maj. Gen. Heidi Hoyle, acting deputy chief of staff, logistics.In 1865, the Army’s 12th Surgeon General, Joseph Barnes, appointed Tubman as nurse matron at Fort Monroe’s Colored Hospital in Hampton, Virginia.
Tubman also travelled to Florida to treat and cure Union Soldiers with cases of dysentery, an infection of the intestines. Tubman used natural herbs to cure the Soldiers of the ailment, which became one of the leading causes of death during the Civil War. A skilled cook, Tubman voluntarily baked goods to give Union troops energy while also preparing meals for the injured and the hospital staff.
According to the Fort Sam Houston Museum, a young Tubman learned to bring food into the field while helping her father, an enslaved forester. An Army chaplain poses for a photo with Harriet Tubman’s great-great-great-grandniece, Ernestine W. “I do not doubt that she heard all her life with a small stature and being a woman and an African American, what she could not do,” Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Scott Dingle said.
“But Harriet did not let that stop her … because she knew, based on the rooting and the word of God, that she had a mission in this world.”Tubman earned a distinction for her field prowess before the Civil War began. After a June 1858 meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario, abolitionist John Brown nicknamed her “General” Tubman, impressed by her bravery.
Tubman herself was born into bondage in Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Although she eventually escaped slavery on an arduous, 90-mile trek to Philadelphia, she returned to her home state again and again to liberate family members. Although she stood only 5-foot-2 and suffered from headaches and narcolepsy, Tubman navigated her way through forests and rugged terrain to guide slaves to Northern states and Canada.
While enslaved, an overseer threw a metal weight that landed on her head, causing her to suffer from hallucinations for the rest of her life. During her night rescues of slaves, Tubman eluded men on horseback while traversing the countryside on foot.“She was illiterate, so she couldn’t read the signs or which way to go,” Dingle said during a ceremony attended by Tubman’s great-great-great-grandniece, Ernestine Wyatt. “But she had an invincible spirit.”A devout Christian, Tubman turned to her faith to persevere through the most difficult times.
Tubman managed to evade capture while leading slaves out of captivity, said Col. Karen Meeker, MEDCOM command chaplain.“Her faith was everything,” Meeker said. “It gave her the strength to overcome all the things that she faced in her life. It gave her a mission, a very high calling.
”Dingle said Tubman learned to overcome her small stature while cutting wood during her years in bondage.“The physical labor prepared her to be the ‘Moses’ of the underground railroad – to lead in the harshest winter at times,” Dingle said. In addition to her time at Fort Monroe, Tubman also served as a nurse in Washington, D.C., and Beaufort, South Carolina.
The Army lauded her on Wednesday for her contributions to Army medicine, her missions as a Soldier, and her being a freedom fighter.
LORI ROBINSON
General (ret.) Lori J. Robinson is a nonresident senior fellow in the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings, as well as at the Belfer Center.
After 37 years of military service, Gen. Robinson retired in 2018 as commander of the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). She is the first woman in U.S. history to lead a combatant command.USNORTHCOM connects homeland defense, civil support, and security cooperation to defend and secure the United States and its interests.
NORAD conducts aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning in the defense of North America. Before her assignment as commander of USNORTHCOM, she commanded the Pacific Air Forces and was air component commander for U.S. Pacific Command at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. Robinson entered the Air Force in 1982 through the ROTC program at the University of New Hampshire.
She served in a variety of positions as an air battle manager, including instructor and commander of the Command and Control Operations Division at the Air Force Fighter Weapons School, and chief of tactics in the 965th Airborne Warning and Control Squadron.
She commanded an operations group, a training and air control wing, and deployed as vice commander of the 405th Air Expeditionary Wing, leading more than 2,000 airmen flying the B-1 Lancer, KC-135 Stratotanker, and E-3 Sentry aircraft in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. General Robinson was an Air Force fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and served at the Pentagon as director of the Secretary of the Air Force and chief of staff of the Air Force Executive Action Group.
She was also deputy director for force application and support and the Directorate of Force Structure, Resources, and Assessment with the Joint Staff at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Following these assignments, she was director and legislative liaison in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force at the Pentagon.
She also served as the deputy commander of the U.S. Air Forces Central Command, deputy commander of the Combined Force Air Component with the U.S. Central Command in Southwest Asia, and vice commander of the Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
MARGARET CORBIN
A hero of the American Revolution, Margaret Cochran Corbin was the first woman to receive a military pension.
The hardships of Corbin’s young life inspired the courage and resilience that would serve her well during the Revolution. Born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on November 12, 1751, she was orphaned at age five when her father was killed during an Indian raid and her mother was taken captive, never to return.
She and her brother were adopted and raised by an uncle. In 1772, at age twenty-one, she married John Corbin, who joined the Pennsylvania military three years later. Instead of staying home, Corbin left with her husband for war, becoming—like many other women—a camp follower who earned money cooking and doing laundry for soldiers.
She also helped take care of the sick and wounded. On November 16, 1776, Corbin dressed as a man and joined her husband in the Battle of Fort Washington on Manhattan Island. There, she helped him load his cannon, and when he was killed, she quickly and heroically took over firing the cannon against the British.
Other soldiers commented on “Captain Molly’s” steady aim and sure shot. Eventually, however, she, too, was hit by enemy fire, which nearly severed her left arm and severely wounded her jaw and left breast. She was unable to use her left arm for the rest of her life.
The British eventually won this battle, with Corbin numbered among the prisoners of war who were paroled and released back to the care of Revolutionary hospitals. Left to support herself alone, Corbin struggled financially. After she recovered, Corbin joined the Invalid Regiment at West Point, where she aided the wounded until she was formally discharged in 1783.
Then, on July 6, 1779, the Continental Congress, in recognition of her brave service, awarded her a lifelong pension equivalent to half that of male combatants. Congress also gave her a suit of clothes to replace the ones ruined during the conflict.
In 1782, Corbin married a wounded soldier, but he died a year later. Gruff and unfeminine, Corbin made few friends among the women of her time, instead feeling more at home smoking and conversing with other soldiers.
Corbin died near West Point before reaching her fiftieth birthday. In 1926, her remains were moved from an obscure grave along the Hudson River to West Point, where she was buried with full military honors. A plaque at Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan hails her “as the first woman to take a soldier’s part in the War for Liberty.
ANNIE G.FOX
December 7th is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, when Americans commemorate the 1941 attack that brought the United States into World War II.
The Japanese attack shocked a nation that had heretofore resisted entering foreign wars by bringing the conflict to its shores. Dozens of stories of heroism emerged after the attacks, including that of the inspiring courage of First Lieutenant Annie G. Fox (Army Nurse Corps), who received a Bronze Star for her actions.
The Bronze Star, when awarded for bravery, is the fourth-highest combat award of the US Armed Forces and the ninth-highest military award in the order of precedence. Lt. Fox was the Station Hospital’s Head Nurse at Hickam Field.
The 30-bed hospital opened in November 1941, with six nurses. Lt. Monica E. Conter described the unit as “the happiest group of nurses anywhere, [under] the grandest chief nurse [Fox] who enjoys everything as much as we do.” Fox had joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1918, at the end of the First World War.
While no stranger to military service, the surprise attack landed her in combat for the first time. The 47-year-old quickly took control of the situation as bombs rained down on the base. Firsthand accounts of the attack by hospital staff described a terrifying and chaotic situation.
Enemy airplanes flying so close and low that the nurses could see the pilots talking to each other were followed by explosions and masses of black smoke after each dive. Casualties poured into the hospital within minutes of the first bombing run. Hospital staff leaped into action as the constant noise of torpedoes, bombs, machine guns, and anti-aircraft guns filled the air.Attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Credit the Library of Congress, the attack progressed, casualties multiplied, while bombs fell around the hospital itself.
One bomb left a 30-foot crater only twenty feet from the hospital wing, and another fell just across the street. The smoke and fumes were so severe that the hospital staff, fearing a gas attack, donned gas masks and helmets as they tended the wounded.
The casualties suffered from serious shrapnel wounds, particularly in the abdomen, chest, face, head, arms, and legs. The casualties were so numerous that nurses had time only to administer pain medication before triaging them to Tripler Hospital. The dead also passed through, their bodies a mangled mass of bone and bloody and charred tissue. As Head Nurse, Lt. Fox rallied the nurses and organized the hospital’s response to the assault.
The wives of officers and NCOs reported to the hospital to help, and Lt. Fox organized the civilian volunteers to make hospital dressings by the hundreds and assist with patient care. Lt. Fox herself participated in surgery, administering anesthesia, during the heaviest part of the bombardment. Afterwards, she, with the other nurses, tended to the wounded.
On October 26, 1942, in recognition of her efforts, Fox became the first woman in American history to be awarded the Purple Heart medal. Her citation read in part: During the attack, Lieutenant Fox in an exemplary manner, performed her duties as head nurse of the Station Hospital…
She worked ceaselessly with coolness and efficiency, and her fine example of calmness, courage, and leadership was of great benefit to the morale of all with whom she came in contact. Four other Army nurses were also recognized for their performance during the attack.
Captain Helena Clearwater, First Lieutenant Elizabeth A. Pesut, Second Lieutenant Elma L. Asson, and Second Lieutenant Rosalie L. Swenson each received the Legion of Merit “for extraordinary fidelity and essential service”.Though at the time the Purple Heart award was most commonly awarded to service members wounded by enemy forces, it was occasionally awarded for any “singularly meritorious act of extraordinary fidelity or essential service.
” The Purple Heart Award criteria changed in 1942 to be limited to wounds received as a result of enemy action. On October 6, 1944, Lt. Fox was awarded the Bronze Star Medal in lieu of her Purple Heart, which was rescinded. The Report of Decorations Board cited the same acts of heroism as for the Purple Heart. The Army Nurse Corps had fewer than 1,000 nurses on December 7, 1941, the day of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
Eighty-two Army nurses were stationed in Hawaii, serving at three Army medical facilities on that infamous day. By the end of World War II, more than 59,000 American nurses had served in the Army Nurse Corps. Nurses worked closer to the front lines than in any prior conflict, providing invaluable service at great personal risk.
Nurses received 1,619 medals, citations, and commendations during the war, including sixteen medals awarded posthumously to women who died as a result of enemy fire. Lt. Fox and her thousands of fellow nurses exemplified the courage and dedication of all who served.
MICHELLE HOWARD
Michelle Jeanine Howard: Born on April 30, 1960, in Riverside, California, to a British wife of a US Air Force Master Sergeant, this girl is known all over the world for her courage and bravery.
Michelle Jeanine is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral. She is known worldwide for her significant achievements in the military, including being the first African-American woman to command a US Navy warship (USS Rushmore) and the first woman to be promoted to the rank of four-star admiral.
She has served as the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, the second-highest-ranking officer in the Navy, and the first female commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa. Since her father had served in the country’s Air Force as a master sergeant, she had no difficulty following this path and graduated from Gateway High School in Aurora, Colorado, in 1978.
She graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982, and after graduating from there, she decided to pursue a master’s degree in military arts and sciences from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1998. She chose the U.S. military as a career, and from there she continued to grow day by day.
Climbing the ladder of advancement, she also made her name count among seven black women in the U.S. Naval Academy class of 1982, making her name on the list of most successful women. She also served on the USS Henley and USS Lexington during the Persian Gulf War as chief engineer on the USS Mount Hood.
She was also awarded many awards, including the 1987 Navy/Navy League Secretary Captain Winifred Collins Award and, in 1999, the first African-American female commander of the USS Rushmore.
She later commanded Amphibious Squadron 7 and Expeditionary Strike Group 2. She also served in various shore assignments as Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy and the 38th Vice Chief of the Navy. And finally, she became the first female four-star admiral to command operational forces and the first woman to command U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa and NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples, and retired from the African-American Navy in 2017 after nearly 36 years of service.
ARTEMISIA I OF CARIA
Artemisia I, a Carian from Caria, was the queen of Halicarnassus and neighboring islands in the 5th century BC.
She was a Carian-Greek queen who made her name among the bravest women in the world by supporting the Persians during the Greco-Persian Wars. Especially when she commanded a large fleet at the Battle of Salamis and won the battle, and at the same time, she advised Xerxes to launch a campaign for the opposing country.
Artemisia ruled Halicarnassus, a Greco-Carian state, and also ruled the islands of Kos, Kalymnos, and Nisaira, making her name among the bravest women in the world. In addition, she was a client ruler of the Achaemenid Empire and the first female commander to accompany King Xerxes during the Persian invasion of Greece.
As a commander, she commanded a squadron of five Persian ships under the command of the Greeks off Asia Minor during the Battle of Salamis and advised Xerxes against engaging in naval combat at Salamis and to retreat there. During the same Battle of Salamis, she cleverly saved her life by ramming a friendly Persian ship and introducing herself as a commander.
Xerxes subsequently recognized her strategic brilliance and respected her advice. Even after the defeat at Salamis, Artemisia’s story is preserved by Herodotus, who sheds light on her courage and strategy. Even today, she is remembered as a woman of exceptional leadership and strategy, demonstrating her achievements in a time when women were confined to domestic chores.