Women Kicking Butts

[cutiger83]

Ann Simpson Davis - Revolutionary War

 

Ann Simpson Davis was handpicked by General Washington to carry messages to his generals while the army was in eastern Pennsylvania. Ann, an accomplished horsewoman, slipped through areas occupied by the British Army unnoticed. She carried secret orders in shell casings, sacks of grain and sometimes in her clothing to various mills around Philadelphia and Bucks Country. Ann was never captured. She received a letter of commendation for her services from General Washington.

[RustyCanteen]

Very interesting! I cannot imagine how dangerous that must have been.

 

Thanks for keeping this informative thread alive!

 

RC

[cutiger83]

More Revolutionary War information from Wikipedia -

 

Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley

 

At the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778, Mary Hays attended to the Revolutionary soldiers by giving them water. Just before the battle started, she found a spring to serve as her water supply. Two places on the battlefield are currently marked as the "Molly Pitcher Spring." Mary Hays spent much of the early day carrying water to soldiers and artillerymen, often under heavy fire from British troops.

 

The weather was hot, over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Sometime during the battle, William Hays collapsed, either wounded or suffering from heat exhaustion. It has often been reported that Hays was killed in the battle, but it is known that he survived. As her husband was carried off the battlefield, Mary Hays took his place at the cannon. For the rest of the day, in the heat of battle, Mary continued to "swab and load" the cannon using her husband's ramrod. At one point, a British musket ball or cannonball flew between her legs and tore off the bottom of her skirt. Mary supposedly said, "Well, that could have been worse," and went back to loading the cannon.

 

Later in the evening, the fighting was stopped due to gathering darkness. Although George Washington and his commanders expected the battle to continue the following day, the British forces retreated during the night and continued on to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The battle was seen as a major victory for the Continental Army.

 

After the battle, General Washington asked about the woman whom he had seen loading a cannon on the battlefield. In commemoration of her courage, he issued Mary Hays a warrant as a non commissioned officer. Afterwards, she was known as "Sergeant Molly," a nickname that she used for the rest of her life.

[cutiger83]

One more Revolutionary War from Wikipedia

 

Margaret Corbin - the first woman in the US to receive a military pension

 

The story of Margaret Corbin bears similarities to the story of Mary Hays. Margaret Corbin was the wife of John Corbin of Philadelphia, also an artilleryman in the Continental army. On November 12, 1776, John Corbin was one of 2,800 American soldiers who defended Fort Washington in northern Manhattan from 9,000 attacking Hessian troops under British command. When John Corbin was killed, Margaret took his place at the cannon, and continued to fire it until she was seriously wounded in the arm. In 1779, Margaret Corbin was awarded an annual pension of $50 by the state of Pennsylvania for her heroism in battle. She was the first woman in the United States to receive a military pension. Her nickname was "Captain Molly."

[Sabrejet]

More Revolutionary War information from Wikipedia -

 

Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley

 

At the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778, Mary Hays attended to the Revolutionary soldiers by giving them water. Just before the battle started, she found a spring to serve as her water supply. Two places on the battlefield are currently marked as the "Molly Pitcher Spring." Mary Hays spent much of the early day carrying water to soldiers and artillerymen, often under heavy fire from British troops.

 

The weather was hot, over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Sometime during the battle, William Hays collapsed, either wounded or suffering from heat exhaustion. It has often been reported that Hays was killed in the battle, but it is known that he survived. As her husband was carried off the battlefield, Mary Hays took his place at the cannon. For the rest of the day, in the heat of battle, Mary continued to "swab and load" the cannon using her husband's ramrod. At one point, a British musket ball or cannonball flew between her legs and tore off the bottom of her skirt. Mary supposedly said, "Well, that could have been worse," and went back to loading the cannon.

 

Later in the evening, the fighting was stopped due to gathering darkness. Although George Washington and his commanders expected the battle to continue the following day, he the British forces retreated during the night and continued on to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The battle was seen as a major victory for the Continental Army.

 

After the battle, General Washington asked about the woman whom he had seen loading a cannon on the battlefield. In commemoration of her courage, he issued Mary Hays a warrant as a non commissioned officer. Afterwards, she was known as "Sergeant Molly," a nickname that she used for the rest of her life.

 

 

Kat...the British Army never retreats...it just advances in a different direction!

[RustyCanteen]

Very interesting additions to this thread!

 

Thanks for posting them, there are so many forgotten stories that it's now time we remember them!

 

RC

[Wharfmaster]

A close friend of the family worked for Boeing during WW2. Because of her small size, she was able to do special assembly on B-29s that others could not.

 

Without doubt those B-29 Super Forts kicked backsides big time.

 

Women built the weapons we needed from day one .

 

 

W

[cutiger83]

A close friend of the family worked for Boeing during WW2. Because of her small size, she was able to do special assembly on B-29s that others could not.

 

 

 

Very cool! It took more than brawn to help win the war!

 

....Kat

[cutiger83]

1784 - Mme Tible of France is first woman to ascend in a balloon. Pilatro de Rosir, first human being to fly was the pilot.

 

1863- Mlle, Eliza Garnerin, daughter of Andre-Jacques Garnerin, reputed inventor of the parachute, is first woman to make parachute drops.

 

1911 - Harriet Quimby receives first pilot's license issued to a woman in America.

[cutiger83]

More Women of the Revolution from "Daughters of America",1849 and "Women of the Revolution" 1882:

 

There is the little known story of Rachel and Grace Martin who disguised themselves as men and assailed a British courier and his guards. They took his important dispatches, which they speedily forwarded to General Greene. Then they released the two officers who didn't even know that they were women.

Then there is Anna Warner, wife of Captain Elijah Bailey, who earned the title of "The Heroine of Groton" because of her fearless efforts to aid the wounded on the occasion of the terrible massacre at Fort Griswald in Connecticut. Anna Bailey went from house to house collecting material for bandages for the soldiers. Incidentally she denied ever having used the coarse and profane expressions ever attributed to her.

Margaret Corbin stepped up to the artillery during the attack on Fort Washington when her husband fell by her side and unhesitatingly took his place and performed his duties. In July of 1779 the Congress awarded her a pension for her heroism - and a suit of clothes.

Angelica Vrooman, during the heat of battle, sat calmly in a tent with a bullet mould, some lead and an iron spoon, moulding bullets for the rangers.

Mary Hagidorn, upon hearing the order by a Captain Hager, for the women and children to retire to the long cellar, said: "Captain, I shall not go to that cellar should the enemy come. I will take a spear which I can use as well as any man and help defend the fort." The captain seeing her determination answered "then take a spear,Mary, and be ready at the pickets to repel an attack." She cheerfully obeyed and held the spear at the pickets till hurrahs for the American flag burst on her ear and told that all was safe.

 

[cutiger83]

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.

[cutiger83]

Nancy Hart served as a Confederate scout, guide and spy, carrying messages between the Southern Armies. Nancy was twenty years old when she was captured by the Yankees and jailed. Nancy gained the trust of one of her guards, got his weapon from him, shot him and escaped.

[cutiger83]

During World War One both Edith Cavell and Mata Hari were prisoners of war and were executed for being spies.

[ka bar]

Hi Kat...

 

I know this isn't US related, but its worth the risk...

 

There was an incident known as the Bangka Island (Indonesia) massacre in 1942

 

22 Aussie nurses were taken by the Japanese and assassinated

 

Only one nurse survived...

 

Here is a link to the story

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangka_Island_massacre

 

Yes, women kick butts

 

Each one of them were as beautiful as our Aussie boys...

[cutiger83]

22 Aussie nurses were taken by the Japanese and assassinated

 

Only one nurse survived...

 

I found a book about the one nurse who survived. This is one that I will have to read!

 

I remember seeing a movie not to long ago about Aussie nurses in WWII. I will look it up. It was a good movie.

 

Anyone who thinks women were not in harms way during war are sadly mistaken.

 

Thanks for showing this link. Amazing story that needs to be told.....Kat

[cutiger83]

I remember seeing a movie not to long ago about Aussie nurses in WWII. I will look it up. It was a good movie.

 

The movie was "Sisters of War".

 

Sisters of War is a telemovie based on the true story of two Australian women, Lorna Whyte, an army nurse and Sister Berenice Twohill, a Catholic nun from New South Wales who survived as prisoners of war in Papua New Guinea during World War II

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters_of_War

[cutiger83]

Somewhere over North Africa an American "flying nurse," Second Lieut. Julia Corinne Riley, 23, checks on patients aboard a specially outfitted C-47 transport plane, used to ferry wounded men to hospitals, spring 1943

 

[cutiger83]

The following is from the "Fly Girls" facebook page:

Meet Karen Fine Brasch, CDR, USN (Ret.). Karen was the first female Helicopter Pilot in Her Navy Search & Rescue Squadron, HS-8. She is one of the featured panelists at "The Greatest Generation Meets The Next Generation: Women In Flight" in Santa Monica on November 12th.

"I wasn't there when the WASPs changed the history of aviation for women, but I was in Navy flight school when women were told they could fly in combat. I joined the Nimitz Battle Group the following year and we made a full deployment with women flying. If I remember correctly, there were about 200 women on board out of about 6000 men. Of those 200, there were 14 women aviators across all of the squadrons.

 

 

I was there as the first female pilot in my USN SH-60F/H Search and Rescue/Combat /Search and Rescue/Anti-Submarine Warfare squadron. I was there as one of the first two female flight instructors at a USMC helicopter squadron training the first female UH-1N Huey helicopter pilots (along with training the male aviators).

I was there.

I was there to take advantage of all of the sacrifices and heroic efforts of the WASP. I was one of the many because of the few. Their opportunities became my opportunities. It was an honor and a privilege to fly for the US Navy and I salute all of the women who came before me and all who follow.

Someone once asked me what made me think I could be a Navy pilot? I answered without hesitation, "Because it never occurred to me that I couldn't be..." And that's how I truly felt.

And I owe that to the WASP. I hope their story gets told."

 

[cutiger83]

Today marks a sad anniversary. In 1944, WASP pilot Gertrude "Tommy" Tompkins took off from Mines Field, California (now LAX) in a new P-51D Mustang on a flight to deliver it to New Jersey. She took off into an offshore fog bank and was scheduled to make an overnight stop in Palm Springs, but she never arrived.

Due to a paperwork foul-up, it was four days before the military realized that Tommy was missing. She was never found and eventually listed as Missing, Presumed Dead.

Tommy was one of 38 WASP pilots who died in service during World War II, and she remains the only one still missing.

 

[cutiger83]

Another one from the Flygirls Facebook page:

 

Lt Colonel Maura George is the Operations Officer for the 70th Flying Training Squadron (FTS) at the United States Air Force Academy, CO. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of North Dakota as part of an elite group (and the only female at the time) of ROTC cadets selected for the Army’s only ROTC Helicopter Flight Training Program.

 

 

She has served over seven years in the Army flying UH-1 Huey and the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and has deployed to the Middle East twice; including a combat tour as a Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) pilot in Iraq flying wounded off of the battlefield. In 2004, Maura transitioned from the Army to fly C-130 Hercules airplanes in the Air Force Reserves. She has flown around the world in support of Operations IRAQI and ENDURING FREEDOM in two combat deployments, as well as stateside medical evacuations, the Army’s Basic Airborne Course, and numerous joint-forces airdrop training missions.

In the spring of 2015, Maura accepted a position as the Director of Operations and as a TG-16 soaring Instructor Pilot for the 70 FTS operation on the Air Force Academy’s airfield along with and in support of the 306th Flying Training Group. Annually, thousands of glider, single-engine airplane, and parachute jump operations are conducted on site and around the country by cadets, officers and enlisted airmen trained by the men and women she leads at the 70 FTS.

[Dogsbody]

Great thread!

 

This photo shows Lt. Van der Loo. She's the first Dutch helicopter pilot in the Dutch airforce.

 

 

Rene

[cutiger83]

Rene,

 

Great photo! Thanks so much for adding to this thread.

 

...Kat

[cutiger83]

Another one from FlyGirls

 

Lisa H. Dolan is a retired United States Navy Commander and rotary wing pilot. She was a qualified HH-46 Sea Knight pilot, test pilot, flight instructor pilot, and instrument check pilot with over 2,300 total flight hours. She embarked aboard numerous supply and amphibious ships conducting Search and Rescue and combat logistics support missions during her four deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism. In addition, she completed a joint, special operations tour ashore in the Persian Gulf Region. She holds an MBA from University of California, Irvine and a Bachelor's degree from Boston University.

 

 

[cutiger83]

WASP - Edith "Edy" Clayton Keene entered Army Air Force flight training: Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, August 9, 1943. Graduated: February 11, 1944

Stationed: Hondo Army Air Field, Hondo, Texas, Moore Army Air Base, Mission, Texas

Assignments: Training cadet navigators, Towing targets, Ferrying , Administrative

WASP Edith Keene was killed on April 25, 1944 while on a routine flight in an AT-6 that crashed near Mission, Texas.

 

The other WASPS literally passed the coffee can around to raise the money to send her body home after the accident that claimed her life. No benefits, no recognition, just a blurb in the newspaper about a local girl who died in a plane crash when her seat belt malfunctioned (she was not the pilot in that crash).

 

 

[cutiger83]

U.S. nurses walk along a beach in Normandy, France after they had waded through the surf from their landing craft. They are on their way to field hospitals to care for the wounded allied soldiers.