Women Who Gave the Ultimate Sacrafice

The stories are from WWI to Present Day

WWI

In 1917 the first two women of the US military killed in the line of duty. Army nurses Edith Ayres and Helen Wood were killed on May 20, 1917. They were with Base Hospital #12 aboard the USS Mongolia in route to France. The ship’s crew fired the deck guns during a practice drill and one of the guns exploded spewing shell fragments across the deck killing both women. 

WWII

Evelyn Genevieve “Sharpie” Sharp (October 1, 1919 – April 3, 1944)

Sharpie was one of the 38 women of the Women Air Force Service Pilots that gave their lives in service to the US Army Air Corps. You can hear more about their story and their fight to be recognized in my interview with the granddaughter of Elaine Harmond a WASP, Erin Miller in Episode 49.

Second Lieutenant Ruth M Gardiner (May 20, 1914 – July 27, 1943)

She was a nurse in the US Army Nurse Corps and was the first American nurse to lose her life in the line of duty during World War II.

Korea

Genevieve Marion Smith (April 25, 1905 – July 27, 1950) 

Although the former World War II Army nurse was due to retire in January 1951 after 22 years of military service, she accepted the position and sealed her destiny on a fatal air flight to Korea. On July 27, 1950, a three-man aircrew, twenty-two male passengers and one female--Genevieve Smith, left Haneda, Japan for a flight to Pusan, Korea in a C-47D.  They crashed and were lost at sea, there was only one survivor.

Lieutenant Wilma Ledbetter (April 27, 1912 – August 25, 1950)

Wilma Ledbetter was one of 15 women aboard the USS Benevolence. She died in when the USS Benevolence was rammed by the SS Mary Luckenbach and capsized.

Vietnam

First Lieutenant Sharon Ann Lane (July 7, 1943 – June 8, 1969) 

Though one of eight American military nurses who died while serving in Vietnam, Sharon Lane was the only American nurse killed as a direct result of hostile fire.

Gulf War

Specialist Christine Mayers (1978? - February 25, 1991) and Specialist Bevery Clark (1980? - February 25, 1991)

Specialist Christine Mayers and Specialist Bevery Clark were the first two woman to die in the support of Operation Desert Shield. They both died in an Iraqi Scud missile attack on their barracks in Saudi Arabia on Feb 25, 1991. 28 Americans died in the attack and 89 were wounded. 

Global War on Terrorism

Afghanistan

Sergeant Jeanette L. Winters (May 4, 1976 – Jan 9, 2002)

The first woman to die in the War on Terror was Jeanette Winters. She was a radio operator in the Marine Corps who was usually far from combat, but the KC-130 crashed on approach killing her and her crew.

Senior Airman Ashton LM Goodman (June 14, 1987 – May 26, 2009)

Ashton died in an IED attack outside Bagram Air Base with her commander Lt Col Mark E. Stratton II. She was part of the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team.

First Lieutenant Ashley White (Sept 3, 1987 – October 22, 2011)

Ashley was assigned to a Cultural Support Team attached to a Joint Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan. Because of the word attached women were able to be assigned to special operation teams. You can read more about Ashley’s story and all the women who served on Cultural Support Teams in the book Ashley’s War (affiliate link).

Iraq

Specialist Lori Piestewa (December 14, 1979 - March 23, 2003)

She is believed to be the first Native American woman to be killed in combat in a foreign war and was the first woman to die during the Iraq War and was a single mother of two young boys.

Corporal Jennifer Parcell (June 27, 1986 - February 7, 2007)

She was part of the Lioness Program, a program that uses female Marines from different military occupation specialties to search Iraqi women at check points.

Operation Inherent Resolve

Syria

Shannon Kent (1983 – January 16, 2019)

Shannon was a Navy cryptologist and mother of two. She was in Manbij, Syria responsible for finding ISIS cells and their leaders.

Mentioned in this episode:

Women in the military: Making waves since WWI

Women Airforce Service Pilots

Do You Know the Story of the Original Military Women Pilots? – Episode 49

Korean War Resources

Climbing the Ranks to Brigade General - Episode 65

Do You Know the Story of the Gulf War? Episode 57

Provincial Reconstruction Team

Ashley’s War

This episode is in memory of Luc Gruenther

Resources:

Women of the Military Mentorship Program

Girl's Guide to Military Service available where books are sold. 

Signed copies of A Girl's Guide to Military Service

Girl's Guide to the Military Series