On Veterans/Armistice Day it is easy to get caught up in the contributions of men to their countries, and boy do they deserve some love for all they’ve sacrificed. However, rarely do we get to hear the names of women who have served their country with strength, poise and a kickbutt nature. Here are some women who have served their countries with pride:
US Marine Corp Portrait of Bea Arthur
Most remember Bea Arthur as the title character from Maude, but few realize she served in the United States Marine Corp driving trucks.
Julia Child as we know her
Though the famous chef Julia Child was considered too tall for the United States Womens’ Army Corp or the Navy’s WAVES program, she ended up serving her country by working for Secret Intelligence.
Army General Ann E. Dunwoody was the first female Four Star General for the United States. “I never felt like there were limitations on what I could do.”
Grace Hooper, Math and Military
Grace Murray Hopper is so awesome that there is a US Navy Destroyer Ship named after her. She founded the COBOL programming language, which is a precursor to many of the modern programming languages. She was a math professor at Vassar, but joined the Navy Reserve after the attack on Pearl Harbor. She was smaller and older than they expected, but she worked her butt off and ended up serving the US Navy for 43 years.
Eileen Collins, Our Lady of the Space Shuttle
First Female Space Shuttle Commander, Eileen Collins joined the program AFTER the Columbia explosion. Who were her heroes as a kid? Airforce pilots. Total badass.
UPDATE: Thanks to your love and support, we have a wealth of new additions to the list! Keep them coming ladies, we’ll make sure to update them:
Contributed by Hanalena Fennel:
Image Courtesy of the Food Network
Sunny Anderson served in the US Airforce before becoming a TV personality on the Food Network.
Josephine Baker assisted the French Resistance against Nazi Germany in World War II. She was a well know actress and entertainer, as well as a celebrated woman of color.
Ida Lupino served in the Women’s Ambulence and Defense Corp in World War II before becoming an actress and filmmaker.
And Dr Ruth Westheimer, best know for her work as a celebrity sex therapist was trained as a sniper with the IDF. While she claims to never have killed or shot anyone, she was nearly killed by shrapnel.
Not only did Audrey Hepburn work with UNICEF. Not only was she just genuinely a beautiful person inside and out. Audrey Hepburn also danced as a ballerina in order to courier messages for the Dutch resistance against the Nazis during World War II.
Ladies, we appreciate your service and your contributions. May you never be forgotten.
For more information on Women in Military Service, visit VeteransAdvantage.com or WomensMemorial.org.
