The Civil War

Some historical records verify the fact that over sixty women were either wounded or killed at various battles during the Civil War. Perhaps one of the the most poignant stories about women in the Civil War is told in Women in War1866, by Frank Moore.

In 1863, at age 19, a woman known only as Emily, ran away from home and joined the drum corps of a Michigan Regiment. The regiment was sent to Tennessee and during the struggle for Chattanooga a mini ball pierced the side of the young soldier. Her wound was fatal and her sex was disclosed. At first she refused to disclose her real name but as she lay dying she consented to dictate a telegram to her father in Brooklyn. "Forgive your dying daughter. I have but a few moments to live. My native soil drinks my blood. I expected to deliver my country but the fates would not have it so. I am content to die. Pray forgive me...... Emily."

After the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1863, the bodies of two Confederate women, in uniform, were found. A Union flag bearer, also a woman in uniform, was killed on the hill near Picketts Charge. A young woman named Frances Day was mortally wounded while serving as Sgt. Frank Mayne in the Western Theater.

Spanish American War

Ellen May Tower of Byron, Michigan was the first U.S. Army nurse to die on foreign soil, of typhoid fever, in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War, and was the first woman to receive a military funeral in Michigan.

Twenty two women died as a result of service in the Spanish American War:
Bailey, Lurecia - Army Contract Nurse - Died from Typhoid Fever
Bradford, T.R. - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever - African American
Burke, Mary - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever - Nun
Cameron, Emma - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever
Campos, Anna - Army Contract Nurse - Died from Typhoid Fever
Dorothy Cochrane - Army Conttract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever
Flanagan, Elizabeth - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever - Nun
Greenfield, Margaret - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever
Larkin, Anne - Army Contract Nurse - Died from Typhoid Fever - Nun
Plant, Lulu - Army Contract Nurse - Undiagnosed
Roberts, Alcice - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever
Stansberry, Katherine - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever
Sweeney, Mary - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever - Nun
Toland, Irene - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever
Tower, Ellen - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever
Trioche, Margaret - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever
Turnbull, Minerva - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever - African American
Walworth, Ruebena - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever
Ward, Clara - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever
Wolfe, Carolina - Army Contract Nurse - Died From Typhoid Fever - Nun
Phinney, Dorthea - Volunteer - Died From Malaria
Source Material graciously provided by WIMSA - The above names came from Record Group 112, National Archives, 2nd Report, NSDAR, p. 87; 3rd Report, NSDAR, p. 50 ; Record Group 112, "Order of Spanish American War Nurses," Trained Nurse and Hospital Review, Vol. 23, p. 81 and ps. 208-210; same peridocal, Vol. 24, p. 423; Vol 25, p. 447; Record Group 112, "The Village of Byron and It's Heroine, Ellen May Tower," by Kathryn Seward.
Spanish American War Nurse Clara Maass, died as a result of yellow fever. Army Contract Nurse Maass volunteered to participate in an experimental treatment program, after having survived the war.
A U.S. postage stamp was issued in 1976 in honor of Clara Maass.

World War One

"In progress" - several hundred women lost their lives in WWI.

Army Nurse Edith Ayers, Attica, Ohio.
Army Nurse Helen Burnet Woods, Evanston, Ill.
YMCA Volunteer Marion G. Crandall, Alameda, California
YMCA Volunteer Winona Martin, Rockville Center, N.Y.
American Red Cross Worker Ruth Landon, NYC, New York

World War Two

During the battle on Anzio, six Army Nurses were killed by the German bombing and strafing of the tented hospital area. Four Army Nurses among the survivors were awarded Silver Stars for extraordinary courage under fire.
In the Pacific Theater a Japanese suicide plane bombed the hospital ship USS Comfort off Leyte Island. In the attack 6 nurses, 5 medical officers, 8 enlisted men, and 7 patients were killed, and 4 nurses were wounded

In all, more than 400 military women lost their lives during World War II. In 1944 U.S. Army Nurse Aleda E. Lutz of Freeland Michigan was the first U.S. military woman to die in a combat zone during World War II when her hospital plane went down on her 196th rescue mission.

Ellen Ainsworth, a 24-year-old Army nurse from Glenwood City, Wisconsin, was killed during theBattle of Anzio in Italy. She was the only Wisconsin woman to die from enemy fire during World War II. On February 10, 1944, Lieutenant Ainsworth was on duty in a hospital ward near the Anzio beachhead. During an enemy artillery bombardment, a shell hit the hospital. Despite the severe damage to the hospital, the Wisconsin nurse calmly moved her patients to safety. According to an Army report: "by her disregard for her own safety and her calm assurance she instilled confidence in her assistants and her patients, thereby preventing serious panic and injury. 

Her courage under fire and her selfless devotion to duty were an inspiration to all who witnessed her actions." She was wounded in the attack and died six days later. She was awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third highest award for bravery, and the Purple Heart. In her honor, a nursing care building at the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King is named Ainsworth Hall. A dispensary at Fort Hamilton, New York, and a conference room in the Pentagon also are named in her honor.

Lt. Blanche Sigman, 1st Lt. Carrie Sheetz and Lt. Majorie Morrow, of the Army Nurse Corp, were killed on Feb. 7, 1944 when the 95th Evac Hospital at Anzio Beach was bombed. A few days later Lt. Gertrude Spelboug and Lt. La Verne Farquar were killed when the 33rd Field Hospital at Anzio was hit by artillery. Approximately 200 Army nurses took part in the Anzio campaign. Two of them were the first women to receive the Silver Star for meritorious duty. During the Anzio campaign they cared for 33,128 patients (10,809 battle casualties; 18,074 sick; 4,245 other injuries). Lt. Fern Wingerd, who was wounded when the 95th Evac was bombed recovered in time to be one of the first women to wade ashore with the 7th Army in southern France.

"Missing in Action" Eloise Richardson

A little known fact is that thirty eight WASPs gave their lives during WWII - and yet the WASP were not given full military status until many years later.
WASP: Jane Champlin Susan P. Clarke Margie L. Davis Katherine Dussaq Marjorie D. Edwards Elizabeth Erickson Cornelia Fort Frances F. Grimes Mary Hartson Edith Keene Kathryn B. Lawrence Hazel Ah Ying Lee Paula Loop Alice Lovejoy Lea Ola McDonald Peggy Martin Virginia Moffatt Beverly Moses  Dorothy Nichols Jeanne L. Norbeck Margaret C. Oldenburg Mabel Rawlinson  Gleanna Roberts Marie Mitchell Robinson Betty Scott Dorothy Scott Margaret J. Seip Helen Jo Severson Ethel Marie Sharon Evelyn Sharp  Gertrude Thompkins Silver Betty P. Stine Marion Toevs Mary E. Trebing Mary L. Webster ~Bonnie Jean Betty Taylor Wood

The Korean Conflict

Ensign Constance R. Esposito, Navy Nurse Corps
Lt.jg. Alice S. Giroux, Navy Nurse Corps
Lt.jg. Calla C. Goodwin, Navy Nurse Corps
Lt.jg. Constance A. Heege, Navy Nurse Corps
Lt.jg. Margaret Grace Kennedy, Navy Nurse Corps
Ensign Mary E. Lijegreen, Navy Nurse Corps
Major Genevieve Smith, Army Nurse Corps,
Lt. Wilma Ledbetter, Navy Nurse Corps
Ensign Eleanor Beste, Navy Nurse Corps
Ensign Marie Boatman, Navy Nurse Corps
Lt.jg. Jeanne E. Clarke, Navy Nurse Corps
Lt.jg. Jane L. Eldridge, Navy Nurse Corps
Ensign Edna J. Rundell, Navy Nurse Corps
Captain Vera M. Brown, Air Force Nurse Corps

SN Doris Frances Brown, Milwaukee, non-hostile death Navy.
AN Virginia May McClure, Sioux City, non-hostile air crash, AF.
AN Margaret Fae Perry, Morgantown, non-hostile crash, AF.
AB3 Kay Sherill Platt, Dexter, non-hostile death, Navy.

Vietnam
U.S. Army

2nd Lt. Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba ~~~~~~ 2nd Lt. Elizabeth Ann Jones
Lt. Drazba and Lt. Jones were assigned to the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. They died in a helicopter crash near Saigon, February 18, 1966. Drazba was from Dunmore, PA., Jones from Allendale, SC. Both were 22 years old.

Capt. Eleanor Grace Alexander ~~~~~~ 1st Lt. Hedwig Diane Orlowski
Capt. Alexander of Westwood, NJ and Lt. Orlowski of Detroit, MI died November 30, 1967. Alexander, stationed at the 85th Evac. and Orlowski, stationed at the 67th Evac., in Qui Nhon, had been sent to a hospital in Pleiku to help out during a push. With them when their plane crashed on the return trip to Qui Nhon were two other nurses, Jerome E. Olmstead of Clintonville, WI and Kenneth R. Shoemaker, Jr. of Owensboro, KY. Alexander was 27, Orlowski 23. Both were posthumously awarded Bronze Stars.

2nd Lt. Pamela Dorothy Donovan
Lt. Donovan, from Allston, MA, became seriously ill and died on July 8, 1968. She was assigned to the 85th Evac. in Qui Nhon. She was 26 years old.

1st Lt. Sharon Ann Lane
Lt. Lane died from shrapnel wounds when the 312th Evac. at Chu Lai was hit by rockets on June 8, 1969. From Canton, OH, she was a month short of her 26th birthday. She was posthumously awarded the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm and the Bronze Star for Heroism. In 1970, the recovery room at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, where Lt. Lane had been assigned before going to Viet Nam, was dedicated in her honor. In 1973, Aultman Hospital in Canton, OH, where Lane had attended nursing school, erected a bronze statue of Lane. The names of 110 local servicemen killed in Vietnam are on the base of the statue.

Lt. Col. Annie Ruth Graham, Chief Nurse at 91st Evac. Hospital, Tuy Hoa.
Lt. Col. Graham, from Efland, NC, suffered a stroke in August 1968 and was evacuated to Japan where she died four days later. A veteran of both World War II and Korea, she was 52.

U.S. Air Force

Capt. Mary Therese Klinker
Capt. Klinker, a flight nurse assigned to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, was on the C-5A Galaxy which crashed on April 4 outside Saigon while evacuating Vietnamese orphans. This is known as the Operation Babylift crash. From Lafayette, IN, she was 27. She was posthumously awarded the Airman's Medal for Heroism and the Meritorious Service Medal.

Civilian

American Red Cross

Hannah Crews
Died in a jeep accident, Bien Hoa, 1969.

Virginia Kirsch
Murdered by a U.S. soldier in Cu Chi, 1970.

Lucinda Richter
Died of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Cam Ranh Bay, 1971.

Army Special Services

Rosalyn Muskat
Died in a jeep accident, Bien Hoa, 1968.

Dorothy Phillips
Died in a plane crash, Qui Nhon, 1967.

Catholic Relief Services

Gloria Redlin
Shot in Pleiku, 1969.

Central Intelligence Agency

Barbara Robbins
Died when a car bomb exploded outside the American Embassy, Saigon, March 30, 1965.

Betty Gebhardt
Died in Saigon, 1971.

United States Agency for International Development

Lynn Allan
Murdered by a U.S. soldier in Nha Trang, 1967.

United States Department of the Navy OICC (Officer in Charge of Construction)

Regina "Reggie" Williams
Died of a heart attack in Saigon, 1964

Journalists

Georgette "Dickey" Chappelle
Killed by a mine on patrol with Marines outside Chu Lai, 1965.

Phillipa Schuyler
Killed in a firefight, Da Nang, 1966.

Missionaries

Carolyn Griswald
Killed in raid on leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 1968.

Janie A. Makil
Shot in an ambush, Dalat, 1963. Janie was five months old.

Ruth Thompson
Killed in a raid on the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 1968

Ruth Wilting
Killed in a raid on the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 1968.

POW/MIA

Evelyn Anderson
Captured and burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972. Remains recovered and returned to U.S.

Beatrice Kosin
Captured and burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972. Remains recovered and returned to U.S.

Betty Ann Olsen
Captured during a raid on the leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 1968. Died in 1968 and was buried somewhere along Ho Chi Minh Trail by fellow POW, Michael Benge. Remains not recovered.

Eleanor Ardel Vietti
Captured at leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot, May 30, 1962. Still listed as POW.

Operation Babylift

The following women were killed in the crash, outside Saigon, of the C5-A Galaxy transporting Vietnamese children out of the country on April 4, 1975. All of the women were working for various U.S. government agencies in Saigon at the time of their deaths with the exception of Theresa Drye (a child) and Laurie Stark (a teacher). Sharon Wesley had previously worked for both the American Red Cross and Army Special Services. She chose to stay on in Vietnam after the pullout of U.S. military forces in 1973.

Barbara Adams | Clara Bayot | Nova Bell | Arleta Bertwell | Helen Blackburn | Ann Bottorff | Celeste Brown | Vivienne Clark | Juanita Creel | Mary Ann Crouch | Dorothy Curtiss | Twila Donelson | Helen Drye | Theresa Drye | Mary Lyn Eichen | Elizabeth Fugino | Ruthanne Gasper | Beverly Herbert | Penelope Hindman | Vera Hollibaugh | Dorothy Howard | Barbara Kauvulia | Barbara Maier | Rebecca Martin | Sara Martini | Martha Middlebrook | Katherine Moore | Marta Moschkin | Marion Polgrean | June Poulton | Joan Pray | Sayonna Randall | Anne Reynolds | Marjorie Snow | Laurie Stark | Barbara Stout | Doris Jean Watkins | Sharon Wesley
 

Desert Storm

Major Marie T. Rossi was killed 1 March 1991 in Saudi Arabia in Operation Desert Storm. She was flying a CH-47D CHINOOK Cargo Helicopter when it crashed into an unlit Microwave Tower in bad weather. Major Rossi was 32 and a native of Oradell, NJ.

Army

PFC Pamela V. Gay, 19, Surrey, Virginia

PFC Cindy D.J. Bridges, 20, Trinity, Alabama

Private Dorothy Fails, Taylor, Arizona

Private Candace Daniel

Sergeant Tracey Brogdon, Bartow, Florida

2Lt Kathleen M. Sherry, 23, Tonawanda, NY

Specialist Cindy Beaudoin, 19, Plainfield, Conn.

Specialist Christine Mayes, 22, Rochester Mills, Pa.

Specialist Beverly Clark, 23, Armagh, Pa.

Specialist Adrienne L. Mitchell, 20, Moreno Valley, Calif.

Staff Sergeant Tatiana Khaghani Dees, Rockland, New York.

Sergeant Cheryl LaBeau O'Brien, 24, Racine, Wisc.

Lt. Lorraine Lawton

Navy

AG1 Shirley Marie Cross

This is an incomplete list at best, of
 some of the brave women
 who gave their lives in service
 to the causes for which they defended.
" Neither wavering, or faltering to lights last gleaming."

U.S.M.C.
Cpl. Charlene Y. Oakley
My deceased wife, and mother of two.

J. J. Oakley

Sources:
Vietnam Women's Memorial Project, 2001 S Street NW, Suite 302, Washington, DC 20009 202-328-7253.
A Circle of Sisters/A Circle of Friends, 1015 South Gaylord, Suite 190, Denver, CO 80209, 303-575-1311.
Revised May, 1998. This list is subject to correction and addition as further information becomes known.
The Vietnam Information Ann Kelsey, Army Special Services-Libraries Cam Ranh Bay 1969-1970

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