Manataka American Indian Council
NATIVE AMERICAN
WOMEN VETERANS
Women In
Military
Service For America
Memorial
Ceremonial Entrance
Arlington National Cemetery
Very little
is known about the contributions of Native American women to the
United States military. The Women In Military Service For America
Memorial Foundation is attempting to fill this gap by encouraging
Native American women veterans to register with the Memorial so that
their stories may be recorded and preserved. We are also conducting
research on the contributions of Native American women of earlier
eras.
Historians have only recently rediscovered and
verified the actions of an Oneida woman, Tyonajanegen, at the battle of Oriskany during the American Revolution
(1775-1783). Tyonajanegen was married to an American Army officer of
Dutch descent. She fought at her husband's side on horseback during
the battle, loading her husband's gun for him after he was shot in
the wrist.
The story
of Sacajawea, the
Shoshone woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition of the
early 19th century, is somewhat better known. Much of what is common
knowledge is myth, however. Sacajawea has been remembered as a
guide. In reality, she served as an interpreter for members of the
expedition, who were unfamiliar with the Indian language. "Bird
Woman's" service is described in the journals kept by Army Captains
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during the
expedition.
Four Native
American Catholic Sisters from Fort Berthold, South Dakota worked as
nurses for the War Department during the Spanish American War
(1898). Originally assigned to the military hospital at
Jacksonville, Florida, the nurses were soon transferred to Havana,
Cuba. One of the nurses, Sister Anthony died of disease in Cuba and
was buried with military honors.
Fourteen Native American
women served as members of the Army Nurse Corps during World War I,
two of them overseas. Mrs. Cora E. Sinnard, a member of the Oneida Tribe and a graduate of
the Episcopalian School of Nursing in Philadelphia, served eighteen
months in France with a hospital unit provided by the Episcopal
Church.
Charlotte Edith (Anderson) Monture of the Iroquois Nation also served as an Army
nurse in France. Charlotte was born in 1890 in Ohsweken, Ontario,
Canada. In 1917, she left her job as an elementary school nurse to
join the Army Nurse Corps. She later referred to her service in
France at a military hospital as "the adventure of a lifetime."
Charlotte passed away in 1996, at the age of 106.
Nearly 800 Native American women served in the military during World War II. Elva (Tapedo) Wale, a Kiowa, left her Oklahoma reservation to join the Women's Army Corps. Private Tapedo became an "Air WAC," and worked on Army Air Bases across the United States.
Corporal Bernice (Firstshoot) Bailey of Lodge Pole, Montana, joined the Women's Army Corps in 1945 and served until 1948. After the war, she was sent to Wiesbaden, Germany, as part of the Army of Occupation.
Beatrice
(Coffey) Thayer also served in
the Army of Occupation in Germany. Beatrice remembers being assigned
to KP with German POWs, who were accompanied by armed guards.
Beatrice was in Germany when the Berlin Wall went up, and remained
in the Army until the 1970s.
Alida
(Whipple) Fletcher joined the
Army during World War II and trained as a medical specialist.
She was assigned to the hospital at Camp Stoneman, California, which
was an Army port of embarkation for the Pacific. Alida was on duty
the night two ships loaded with explosives collided at a nearby
ammunition dump, killing approximately 400 sailors and wounding many
more. The wounded were brought to the hospital where Alida worked.
She remembers that night as the most tragic of her life.
First
Lieutenant Julia (Nashanany) Reeves, a member of the Potawatomie Indian Tribe of Crandon,
Wisconsin, joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1942, and was assigned to
one of the first medical Units shipped to the Pacific. The 52nd
Evacuation Hospital Unit was sent to New Caledonia before its
members had received their Army uniforms. When the hospital ship
Solace arrived at New Caledonia, Julia was assigned temporary duty
aboard the ship. The following year, Julia was transferred to the
23rd Station Hospital in Norwich, England, where she was stationed
during the invasion of Normandy. She remained in Norwich
through V-J Day, returning shortly afterward to the United States.
During the Korean War, Julia mobilized with the 804th Station
Hospital.
Private Minnie Spotted-Wolf of Heart Butte, Montana, enlisted in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve in July 1943. She was the first female American Indian to enroll in the Corps. Minnie had worked on her father's ranch doing such chores as cutting fence posts, driving a two-ton truck, and breaking horses. Her comment on Marine boot camp "Hard but not too hard."
Ola
Mildred Rexroat, an Oglala Sioux from Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation, South Dakota, joined the Women's Airforce
Service Pilots (WASP) directly out of high school. Her job was to
tow targets for aerial gunnery students at Eagle Pass Army Air Base
in Texas. Towing targets for student gunners was a fairly dangerous
assignment, but "Rexy" was happy to be able to contribute to the war
effort in a meaningful way. After the war ended, Ola joined the Air
Force and served for almost ten years.
During the 1950s and 1960s, fewer women felt the call to military service. The services, however, were in desperate need of womanpower during the Korean conflict and the Vietnam War, and conducted extensive recruitment campaigns aimed at young women. Many Native American women answered their country's call. Sarah Mae Peshlakai, a member of the Navajo Tribe from Crystal, New Mexico, enlisted in the Women's Army Corps in 1951 and served until 1957. Peshlakai trained as a medical specialist and was assigned to Yokohama Army Hospital in Japan, where she helped care for casualties from the Korean battlefields.
Verna
Fender entered the Navy during
the Korean Conflict and trained at Bainbridge, Maryland. She was
severely injured during basic training and was sent to a Navy
hospital for physical rehabilitation. Undeterred, Verna returned to
Bainbridge and completed her training. The Navy assigned Verna to
its base in San Diego, California, where she completed her 3-year
term of enlistment, working in the departments of berthing and
sectioning, supply, and ordnance.
Shirley M. Arviso, a Navajo of the Bitter Water Clan, served in the Navy from 1953 through 1963. She was the Communications Officer in charge of a group of people who decrypted classified messages.
Pearl
Ross, a member of the Arikara
Tribe from the Fort Berthold Reservation, joined the Air Force in
1953, and trained as a medical specialist. Her first assignment was
to the Air Force hospital in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Pearl was then
assigned to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where she worked in
the 865th Medical Group at SAC HQ. During the Vietnam era, she saw
many men who had been wounded in the combat theater. Pearl
volunteered for overseas duty, but was turned down because the Air
Force was hesitant to send women to Vietnam.
Linda
Woods enlisted in the Air Force
in the late 1950s and was on duty when President Kennedy was
assassinated. She remembers that the air base where she was
stationed went on full alert. A later assignment took her to the
southern United States during the Civil Rights movement. As a
non-white, she found the environment somewhat difficult, however,
she retained pride in her uniform as a woman of
color.
Barbara
Monteiro joined the WAC in 1963 and took her basic and
secretarial training at Ft. McClellan. Alabama. Her first duty
assignment was to Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, where she worked for three
years in the travel office and motor pool in support of troop
readiness during the Vietnam War. In 1966, Monteiro was assigned to
Ft. Richardson, Alaska, where she served as an administration
specialist at the Education Center for a year.
Lance Corporal Valla Dee Jack Egge of Dougherty, Oklahoma, served in the U.S.
Marine Corps in the early 1960s as the executive secretary to two
commanding generals of the Parris Island Marine Corps Base, South
Carolina.
Increasing numbers of women, including Native
Americans, entered the military in the 1970s and 1980s.
Patricia White Bear joined the Navy in 1981. She
trained as an instrument man and served at sea repairing, adjusting
and calibrating the wide variety of mechanical measuring instruments
used aboard ships. Dolores Kathleen Smith, a Cherokee, graduated
from the Air Force Academy in 1982. She completed navigator training
and was assigned to a KC-135 unit. She served in the operational
plans division of her unit and also as an instructor before retiring
as a captain from the Air Force in 1990.
Darlene
Yellowcloud of the Lakota Tribe
was inspired to join the Army because so many of the men in her
family had served. Her grandfather, Bear Saves Life, was killed in
action in France during World War I. Her father, brothers,
brothers-in-law, uncles and cousins were all veterans. Darlene was
assigned to the U. S. Army in Korea as a Specialist 4th Class.
Lawnikwa
Spotted-Eaglefortune joined the
Army in 1988, and attended Basic Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
Acting as a guide-on car ier, she was injured when another carrier
grounded a guide iron through her foot into the ground. She still
has the scar, and now serves as a member of the Virginia Air
National Guard.
As of 1980, at least
sixty Native American women were serving in the Eskimo Scouts, a
special unit of the Alaska National Guard. The Eskimo Scouts patrol
the western coastline of Alaska and the islands separating Alaska
and Russia. The Scouts are the only members of the National Guard
who have a continuous active duty mission. This unit was organized
during World War II, and the wives of scout battalion members have
always been involved in patrol missions. Women were admitted as of
official members in 1976, and only then began to receive
pay, benefits and recognition for their work. Scouts currently
patrol ice flows in the Bering Straits, monitor movements on the
tundra, and perform Arctic search and rescue efforts as
required.
Native
American women lost their lives in the service of their nation.
Katherine Matthews of Cherokee, North Carolina,
joined the Navy in the late 1970s and trained as an Aviation
Machinist's Mate. She died while serving in California in 1985.
Terri Ann Hagen, a former Army medic, was a member of the Army
National Guard when she was killed fighting a fire on Storm King
Mountain in Colorado in 1994.
Army
Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, of the Hopi Nation was
a member of 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss and was ambushed near
Nasiriyah, Iraq, on March 23, 2003. Lynch, Johnson and others were taken
prisoner. Nine Soldiers, including Piestewa, were killed in action. She was
posthumously promoted to Spc. Piestewa.
As of 1994,
1,509 Native American women and Native Alaskan women were serving in
the military forces of the United States. Thousands more have served
in the military over time. The Women's Memorial has only 111 Native
American women veterans registered to date, however. As more Native
American women veterans are registered at the Memorial, their
stories will be available to the interested public. Please help us
commemorate Native American History month by registering a Native
American veteran at the Memorial.
Courtesy of:
Women In Military Service For America
Memorial Foundation, Inc.
Dept. 560 Washington, DC 20042-0560
800-222-2294 703-533-1155
wimsacura@aol.com
AMERICAN INDIAN WOMEN TELLING THEIR
LIVES