During Women’s History Month, The American Legion Magazine recognizes milestone moments in women’s military service to America.
On Jan. 3, 2022, USS Abraham Lincoln made Navy history, deploying to the western Pacific with a female captain at the helm. Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt was the first woman to skipper a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, with thousands serving under her command.
“This is an amazing day,” Bauernschmidt, a “Wolfpack” Navy helicopter pilot, said of her crew. “They’re going to do exceptional work out there, and I just can’t wait to watch them succeed.”
The announcement came two months after an unnamed Montana National Guard soldier became the first woman to complete the Army Sniper Course at Fort Benning, Ga.
During Women’s History Month, The American Legion Magazine recognizes these and other milestone moments in women’s military service to our country.
1917-1918: More than 3,000 Army nurses deploy to serve at hospitals near the front in France. Stateside,
women step up to fill vacant roles. More than 11,000 serve as Navy “yeomanettes,” and the Army Signal Corps enlists women to serve as telephone and switchboard operators.
1942: With thousands of non-combat roles to fill, all military branches enlist women. Nearly 350,000 women go on to serve in uniform during World War II, in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve and the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPAR).
1948: President Harry Truman signs the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, allowing women to serve as permanent, regular members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
1967: President Lyndon Johnson signs Public Law 90-130, opening promotions for women to general and flag ranks. The law also removes the 2% restriction on the number of women serving on active duty.
1976: The first women are admitted to the U.S. service academies.
1993: DoD opens combat aviation jobs to women.
1994: Defense Secretary Les Aspin officially rescinds the “risk rule,” which excluded women from combat units or missions that risk exposure to direct combat, hostile fire or capture.
2013: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announces that DoD will lift the combat exclusion policy, making women eligible to serve in frontline combat and complete combat operations.
Ens. Jane Kendeigh was the first Navy flight nurse to fly to an active combat zone, landing at Iwo Jima on March 6, 1945. A press release described her as “108 pounds of green-eyed charm and efficiency.”
In 1974, Staff Sgt. Joyce Malone became the first Black woman and the oldest to earn Airborne wings while in the Army Reserve. By 38, she had completed 15 parachute jumps.
Maj. Sarah Schechter was the Air Force’s first female rabbi. A native New Yorker, she called a military recruiter the day after 9/11, eager to support U.S. servicemembers.
Cmdr. Jeanine McIntosh Menze is the Coast Guard’s first Black female aviator. She earned her wings in 2005 and flew rescue missions in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
In 1967, Master Sgt. Barbara Dulinsky became the first female Marine sent to a combat zone, after volunteering for duty in Vietnam. She served as administrative chief at Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) in Saigon.
Coast Guard Lt. (j.g.) Beverly Kelley was the first woman to command a U.S. military vessel – the
95-foot patrol boat USCGC Cape Newagen – on April 15, 1979.
In 2011, Gen. Loretta Reynolds was the first woman to command the Marine Corps’ historic training ground at Parris Island, S.C. She is also the first female Marine to command units in a battle zone.
Staff Sgt. Esther Blake, 51, was the first woman to join the Air Force, enlisting the first minute of the first hour of the first day women were authorized for duty on July 8, 1948.
“I am really happy to see us nearing an end of all the firsts.” – Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first female vice chief of naval operations, on women breaking the military’s glass ceiling
- Women Veterans