Servicewoman of Recognition

Born in 1832, Mary Walker was raised in a progressive New York household. Her parents raised all six of their children to be independent with a strong sense of justice. Mary was raised to question and challenge restriction in a household where the farm work was shared equally by both parents regardless of gender. As a child, Mary worked on the family farm, rarely wearing women’s clothing as she found it to be too restrictive for farm work. 

Mary got her education in the local school that her parents established themselves, as her parents felt that it was equally important for all of their children to be well educated, not just their son. After leaving primary school, she attended the Falley Seminary, where there was a strong emphasis on traditional gender roles. While a student here, Mary felt even stronger in her own defiance of 1800’s gender norms. Mary found her calling by reading her father’s medical books, which exposed her to a good medical understanding at a young age. Mary was able to attend and pay her way through the Syracuse Medical College where she graduated as a doctor in 1855. Mary was the only woman in her graduating class.

Mary was briefly married to a classmate but was divorced a few years later due to her husband’s infidelity. In 1860, Mary also briefly attended Bowen Collegiate Institute, but was later suspended for not wanting to leave the school debate team.

When the Civil War broke out, Mary volunteered as an Army surgeon until she was rejected from the service for being a woman. She was offered to serve as a nurse but declined. She instead volunteered as a surgeon for the Army as a civilian. Since there were no female surgeons at the time, she was only allowed to practice as a nurse. During her volunteer service she participated in the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Mary was also an unpaid field surgeon near Union front lines. 

Mary was a devout suffragist and feminist in her life and not only knew that women were serving secretly in the military but was proud to see them serving. She did her best to keep their identities secret, going as far as to alter the press about some of the women who were healing in the hospitals.

In her service, Mary attempted to become a Union spy, but her proposal to the War Department was declined. She continued to work as a surgeon, in 1863 Mary became the first female surgeon to be employed by the U.S. Army, accepting a job as a Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon. She later became the assistant surgeon of the 52nd Ohio Infantry. Even though Mary in her service followed the Union Armies, she would cross enemy lines to assist and treat civilians regardless of what side her patient aligned themselves with.

Mary was later captured by Confederates in 1864 as a Union spy. She was sent to Castle Thunder and was kept there for several months until she was released as part of a prisoner exchange. After she was freed, Mary was assigned as the supervisor of a women’s prison, as well as the head of an orphanage. 

After the Civil War ended, Mary was given a disability pension for muscular atrophy that she suffered while imprisoned. Mary went into several different professions after the War, working as a writer and a lecturer. Mary continued to advocate and support causes such as health care, temperance, and other women’s rights causes. She was heavily involved in the Women’s Suffrage Movement, going as far as attempting to vote in 1871.

For her service as a surgeon during the Civil War, Mary tried to earn a commission to validate her service. Since she was a women the Secretary of War ruled that there was nothing that determined a precedent for a woman earning a commission. However, they still felt that she deserved a commendatory acknowledgement instead if a commission. This led to President Johnson awarding Mary the Medal of Honor, making her the only woman to be given this honor. In 1916 the U.S. Congress performed an audit of sorts of the Medal of Honor recipients and revoked several of the honorees. Mary was among this revoked list. Mary was not made to return her medal, and sources state that she was later reinstated as a Medal recipient. 

Walker never felt that she had not deserved her award as she was willing to cross into enemy territory to care for others when no man around her was brave enough to do so. Dr. Mary Walker was living in New York when she fell ill and passed in 1919 at the age of 86. She was buried in her hometown of Oswego, New York. Her funeral was said to be plain, and she chose to be buried in a black suit rather than a dress. Since her passing, Dr. Walker has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, been pictured on a postage stamp as well as a quarter and has had multiple medical facilities named in her honor. She remains the only female recipient of the Medal of Honor to this day.

-November 2025

Born in Warsaw in 1926, Franceska Mann was a young rising star in the world of ballet. Franceska was a student at the dance school of Irena Prusicka and was talented enough to come in fourth place in a 1939 international ballet competition of 125 people.

At the start of World War II, Franceska was a dancer at the Melody Palace nightclub in Warsaw, but as a Jewish woman, she was eventually placed in the Warsaw Ghetto. In 1943, Franceska along with 1,700 other prisoners were transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Mann and the other prisoners were told that they were not staying there but would be transferred into Switzerland. Before this could happen they needed to be put through a disinfecting shower.

It is at this point in history that several different versions of Franceska’s life branch out. It is believed that Franceska knew she and the other prisoners were not going to be transferred, but they would be killed at the death camp. When she was ordered to undress in the showers, she is confirmed to have grabbed officer Josef Schillinger’s gun and fatally shot him. She then shot another officer named Emmerich.

These gunshots functioned as a signal to the other female prisoners who were with Franceska. The women sprung into action and converged on the guards around them. The women were able to wound many of the Nazi men, one man having his nose torn off, and another one having been scalped. There are many different accounts that state that the only men who were wounded were the officers that Franceska shot, many others state that she inspired an uprising in that gas chamber.

Regardless of how many men these women were able to wound, reinforcements were called in with machine guns and grenades. We know for certain that Franceska and all of the other female prisoners were killed on that day.

The Auschwitz Museum has confirmed that on October 23, 1943, there was a woman who shot two SS guards, and there is great belief that Franceska was the one who conducted the act and inspired the other women to fight for themselves until the end.

-October 2025

Women Veterans Day is recognized in the United States on June 12th. This is not a day that supplements Veterans Day but celebrates the passing of the Women's Armed Services Integration Act. 

The Women's Armed Services Integration Act was passed June 12, 1948, and awarded women the opportunity to serve as permanent members of the Armed Forces. 

Before the passing of this bill, women were only allowed to serve in the military during times of war. The only exception to this were women who served as nurses. Women served in branches of the Armed Forces in both World War I and World War II but had to leave the service after the conflict ended. The passing of the Women's Armed Services Integration Act made it possible for women to serve in times of peace, though there were clauses that prevented women from serving on ships and aircraft of the Navy that could engage in combat.

There was both positive and negative reception to this act being brought up, but it had influential promoters, including the likes of General Dwight Eisenhower. The bill finally passed in both the House and the Senate, and President Truman signed the bill.

-June 2025

Born in 1906 in the Philippines, little is known about the early life of Nieves Fernandez. Her professional career as a teacher began before World War II. Historians know the most about her during her actions during the War. In the 1930's, Japan began to expand their territory outside of their borders. This included the invasion of the Philippines. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese forces in 1941, the United States joined the global conflict, triggering full-scale warfare in the Pacific.

The Allied forces stationed troops in the Philippines, and this is when Nieves became involved in the fighting. Nieves was one of the most well-known female guerilla fighters in the Philippines during World War II. She was able to recruit 110 men to train as more guerilla fighters, her unit originally only had three guns and had to rely heavily on homemade grenades, bolo knives, and single-shot pipe shotguns that fired nails from it. She and her men eventually were able to acquire more guns, both Japanese and American made.

Nieves earned herself the nickname of 'Silent Killer' during the War and ended the war with the ranking of Sergeant. Nieves was able to kill 200 Japanese soldiers and had a bounty on her head placed there by the Japanese forces.

After World War II ended, Nieves was honorably discharged from service, it is believed that she lived until the 1990's, staying in the Philippines with her son and grandchildren.

-May 2025

 Anna Coleman Ladd was born in 1878 in Pennsylvania. Anna received an education in Europe, it was in Paris and Rome that she studied sculpting. She met her husband in Salisbury, England and the two moved to Boston where Anna continued her education in art. 

Anna studied with the American sculptor Bela Pratt for a number of years at the Boston Museum School, and in 1915 her piece Triton Babies was displayed in the  Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. During her time as a sculptor, Anna showed her art in several different shows and traveling exhibitions. This led her to establish a good name for herself in the world of art.

During World War I, Anna's husband, Dr. Maynard Ladd, was appointed to the Children's Bureau of the American Red Cross in France. It was then that Anna learned of the work of a British sculptor named Francis Derwent Wood, who was making prosthetic masks for disfigured soldiers who were returning home. Anna, wanting to become more involved in the war effort, asked for special permission to travel to collaborate with the soldiers in France. 

Anna was granted permission and began to sculpt masks for the soldiers who were stationed in France. Anna was appointed to collaborate with the American Red Cross in the Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department in Paris. 

During her work in Paris, Anna founded the Studio for Portrait-Masks and began to provide cosmetic masks for the disfigured men. It was due to her service in the war effort that Anna was awarded both the Légion d'Honneur Croix de Chevalier and the Serbian Order of Saint Sava.

Anna retired from her work as a sculptor in 1936, and she and her husband moved together to California, where Anna died in 1939. Her statue titled Triton Babies is still displayed in the Boston Public Garden and is a part of the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.

-April 2025

 Born in 1921, Sophia Magdalena Scholl was an outspoken young woman. Sophie was born into a family of liberal politicians who were fierce Nazi critics. 

Sophie had a calm and carefree childhood but had to be moved from city to city due to her father’s political work. She enjoyed school and came by learning new information easily. In 1931, at the age of 12, Sophie, along with the majority of her classmates, joined branches of the Hitler Youth. Her initial excitement to be part of the group quickly fell away when she began to notice that the group’s political ideals clashed with that of her own and her family's. Sophie was a very opinionated girl, who chose her friends carefully to make sure that their values corresponded with her own.

In 1937, a few of Sophie's brothers, who were also disillusioned to the Nazi Party, took part in several Anti-Nazi protests. This led to their arrest, which left a strong impression on a growing Sophie. 

It was at 16 years old that Sophie was first arrested by the Gestapo for her participation in Anti-Nazi organizations. She was released shortly after, but this was the final nail in the coffin towards her views and opinions about the rising power in Germany. 

After graduating from secondary school in 1940, Sophie became increasingly opposed to her country and the growing political climate. In 1942, Sophie enrolled in the University of Munich to study biology and philosophy. It was here that she met like-minded friends who were eager to speak out about Nazism. 

Sophie, her friends, and a few of her brothers began a nonviolent, outspoken organization called the White Rose. This group of students would covertly distribute leaflets that spoke out against the Nazi regime and Hitler's motives. These leaflets were left in public spaces where they would be seen by the largest amount of people: in phonebooks in public phone booths, mailed to professors and students, and handed off to other students so that they could be circulated at other universities. Sophie was a key member of the White Rose, being a woman she was much less likely to be suspected of being involved, making her less likely to be stopped by SS officers. 

Sophie and her brother, Hans, were finally caught distributing these leaflets at Ludwig Maximillian University. The siblings went to this school with a suitcase full of leaflets. The two began leaving them in stacks in hallways that were well travelled. As they were about to leave, Sophie opened the suitcase at the uppermost part of a staircase so that the pages would rain down into the atrium below. A university maintenance person named Jakob Schmid caught them in the act and turned both Sophie and Hans into the Gestapo. 

Sophie was initially presumed to be innocent but assumed responsibility for her actions to protect the other members of the White Rose. During her trial, Sophie stood proudly before the judge and stated that "Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don't dare express themselves as we did." 

Sophie was found guilty of treason and was sentenced to execution. She was killed by guillotine on February 22, 1943, at 5:00 pm. Some of her last words were "The sun still shines."

Sophie's legacy has continued long after her death. The White Rose continued to operate covertly. More leaflets were smuggled out of Germany to neighboring countries where Allied planes would drop them from the sky over Germany. After the war ended, years later in 2003 the communication and political science building at the University of Munich was named after Sophie and her brother. She has also been honored on German currency as well as in television, film, and national publications. 

Sophie is now considered one of the most well beloved, influential German people of the twentieth century.

-March 2025

Women have been involved in wars and battles for centuries. The earliest records dating back to 16th Century BC. Much documentation was not recorded of these women, so it is difficult to piece together the records that highlight them.

One of the first women to be recorded as believed to be involved in war was Ahhotep I. After her husband died from injuries, she became regent until her son was old enough to become Pharaoh. In her time as regent, Ahhotep unified, cared for, protected, and returned the deserters and dissidents of the military. For these actions Ahhotep was given recognition on a stela monument. From the verbiage that is inscribed, some scholars believe that it is likely that Ahhotep commanded the Egyptian army during her time as regent.

In the 13th Century BC, Fu Hao was a consort of the Emperor, having entered into the palace through marriage. From documents that have survived since the Shang Dynasty, Fu Hao is credited to have led multiple military campaigns, having won a hard won victory against the Tu people. During her time as a military leader, she led upwards of 13,000 troops, including many other celebrated generals. Fu Hao is said to be the most accomplished military leader of her time.

Some skepticism surrounds Queen Tomyris. Several ancient texts have been discovered that highlight her actions and accomplishments. Tomyris rose to become queen after her husband died. Tomyris was the leader of the Massagetae tribe in ancient Iran. When a neighboring Persian ruler, Cyrus, asked for her hand in marriage, Tomyris saw through his grab for power and rejected the proposal. Tomyris then states that Cyrus should focus on ruling his kingdom while she ruled hers. Cyrus saw this as an insult and invaded the Massagetae land. According to various sources, Tomyris took an active role in the military campaign, some even stating that she was the one to kill Cyrus herself. Not much was written of Tomyris after the death of Cyrus, but her legacy lives on having become a popular figure in Renaissance art.

Some of the women who were involved in wars and military engagements are believed to be fictional. One of the most famous of these stories is the legend of Hua Mulan. The exact origin of Mulan is not exactly known, but believed to be dated between the 4th and 6th Centuries CE. The first written account of Mulan is in the Ballad of Mulan, which first appears in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-535 CE). Since her first appearance, Mulan has been featured in a variety of plays, movies, games, and literature.

Not all women who were involved in early war efforts took the form of military support. Saint Genevieve became involved in religion at a young age, and after she was orphaned, she moved to Paris. While living in Paris, Genevieve became known for her healings, piety, and miracles. One of her miracles happened in the year 451. The city of Paris was under threat of attack by Attila the Hun. Genevieve gathered women in the city and formed a prayer marathon. It is said that these prayers were what prevented Attila from attacking. This is Genevieve's most famous feat. Genevieve was later canonized as one of the patron saints of Paris.

For more information about these women, and other women who were involved in early warfare, check out the page on Women in Ancient Warfare.

-February 2025