When the sector artillery unit Margaret Corbin was serving with got here below fireplace, she refused to stop her submit ― even after many of the gun crew have been killed. The devastating barrage she continued to ship in opposition to enemy positions was so correct that her discipline piece was focused for destruction. The final gun to stop firing, she ultimately was discovered close to loss of life with three bullet wounds. She additionally had been hit by shrapnel in her chest, jaw, and arm, which almost was severed.
Since 9/11, greater than 300,000 girls have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Greater than 9,000 have earned Fight Motion Badges. Corbin’s story wouldn’t be misplaced in both theater of struggle. Nevertheless, amazingly, her act of immense bravery occurred greater than 245 years in the past throughout the American Revolutionary Warfare.
Even earlier than the unique 13 colonies declared independence, girls have put themselves in hurt’s strategy to defend our freedom. Through the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, many ladies marched with their husbands and fathers, offering companies that included laundry, cooking, and caring for the wounded. Nevertheless, others actively served in fight.
In 1775, Corbin, like many ladies of her era, joined her husband after he enlisted within the Continental Army. On Nov. 16, 1776, whereas stationed at Fort Washington on Manhattan Island, New York, Corbin helped her husband and his crew of artillerymen fireplace on a bunch of attacking Hessian mercenaries who have been combating for the British. As a substitute of retreating when her husband and most of his crew have been killed, Corbin took over firing the cannon.
After her restoration, Corbin served in an invalid regiment at West Level, offering assist to the wounded till her discharge in 1783. Finally, she was awarded a lifelong pension. It was the primary time our authorities formally acknowledged a girl for serving within the navy.
All through our nation’s historical past, girls like Corbin have fought to serve in the identical capability as males. In each the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, there have been quite a few examples of ladies who disguised themselves as males to combat on the entrance traces. Others acted as spies or offered battlefield medical care. Clara Barton, founding father of the American Pink Cross, offered nursing care and provides to troopers throughout the Civil Warfare. When that battle ended, she opened the Workplace of Lacking Troopers and helped reunite greater than 20,000 servicemen with their households.
From World Warfare I to Operation Desert Storm, girls have joined each accessible department of the U.S. navy. Though they weren’t permitted to serve in fight, their duties usually introduced them near the entrance traces and generally into lively combating.
As a flight surgeon with the 229th Assault Helicopter Regiment, then-Main Rhonda Cornum was shot down whereas on a search and rescue mission. She suffered two damaged arms, a damaged finger, and a gunshot wound to the shoulder, amongst different accidents. Instantly after her helicopter crashed, she was captured by Iraqi navy forces. She survived the struggle and in 2012, she retired from the U.S. Army as a brigadier normal.
Immediately, girls make up roughly 16 p.c of the U.S. armed forces. Girls lead Marine Corps platoons, they command air wings and fight vessels, and serve in several Army items ― to incorporate the sector artillery, identical to Corbin.
Annually, the month of March is devoted to remembering and reflecting on the contributions girls have made to U.S. historical past. At Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital, we frequently say, “daily is Veterans Day.” So, whereas we use this month to have fun all girls, we particularly honor the service and sacrifice of our girls Veterans.
At Truman VA, we offer well being companies to greater than 3,000 girls Veterans annually. That quantity continues to develop as extra girls be taught concerning the high quality and comprehensiveness of the care we offer.
For ladies Veterans who qualify for VA well being advantages, we provide a full vary of companies that embrace gynecology, pelvic flooring remedy, and way more. Along with major care, Truman VA has a devoted girls Veterans program supervisor, a girls Veterans well being director, a girls’s behavioral well being champion, a girls’s major care champion, a gynecologist, a pelvic flooring therapist, and a maternity/mammogram coordinator – for a complete of 51 designated girls well being care suppliers.
In case you are a girl Veteran and you have an interest in studying extra about what Truman VA has to give you, please name us at (573) 814-6535. In honor of Girls’s Historical past Month and in your devotion to our nation, we thanks in your service!
