Her Sacrifice, Our Legacy: Restoring the Visibility of Women’s Military History at Arlington

“Namah” Curtis, U.S. Army (1861–1935) — Namahyoke Curtis, known as Namah, was a prominent African American nurse in late-19th-century Washington, D.C. During the Spanish-American War (1898), the Surgeon General assigned her to recruit other Black women to serve as U.S. Army contract nurses. She recruited as many as 32 Black nurses for the war effort. Curtis was of African American, European and American Indian descent, and she married Dr. Austin Curtis, a leading Black physician and the superintendent of Freedmen’s Hospital in D.C. She is buried in the “Nurses’ Section,” which contains the gravesites of many military nurses and the Spanish-American War Nurses Memorial. (Section 21, Grave 15999-A-1) 

Joy Bright Hancock, U.S. Navy (1898–1986) — Captain Joy Bright Hancock’s service was instrumental to expanding women’s opportunities in the military. During World War I, Hancock enlisted in the Navy as a yeoman (F) first class; she served as a courier at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Cape May, New Jersey. She left the military when the war ended but worked as a civilian for the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. During World War II, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized creation of the Navy Women’s Reserve, or WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), in 1942, Hancock was commissioned as a lieutenant and served as a liaison between the Bureau of Aeronautics and the WAVES. She became director of the WAVES in 1946. Hancock also played an important role in getting Congress to pass the Women Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, which secured women a permanent place in the military during peacetime. That year, she became one of the first six women sworn into the regular Navy. In 1972, Captain Hancock published her autobiography, “Lady in the Navy,” recounting her own experiences as well as the history of women in the Navy. She is buried with her husband, U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Ralph A. Ofstie. (Section 30, Grave 2138-RH)

Juanita Hipps, U.S. Army (1912–1979) — During World War II, Lt. Col. Juanita Hipps served as a U.S. Army nurse in the Philippines and chronicled her experiences in a bestselling book, “I Served on Bataan” (1943). Reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel, Hipps also helped to establish the Army Air Corps flight nurse program. (Section 21, Grave 769-1)

Anna Etheridge Hooks, U.S. Army (1839–1913): For her service as a U.S. Army nurse in the Civil War, Anna Etheridge was one of only two women to earn the Kearny Cross, awarded to Union soldiers who had displayed meritorious, heroic or distinguished acts while in the face of an enemy force. She participated in 32 battles, including First and Second Bull Run, Williamsburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. She was noted for removing wounded men from combat. (Section 15, Grave 710)

Shannon Kent, U.S. Navy (1983–2019)— Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent enlisted in the United States Navy in 2003 as a cryptologic technician. Shannon volunteered to deploy to Iraq and was assigned to a Special Operations Task Force in Balad, Iraq.
After returning home from her first deployment, Shannon took the Naval Special Warfare Direct Support Course that included timed ruck marches, advanced training in close quarters combat, and a variety of other foundational skills required to serve alongside Navy SEALs, setting the course for including women in the program. She went on to do two additional rotations in Iraq before a long stint at a remote outpost in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, in 2012.
In 2016, Shannon was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and was successfully cured following surgery.
While pursuing her master’s she decided to become a Doctor of Psychology and was accepted into the Navy’s highly competitive clinical psychology Ph.D. program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. She was later informed that she would not be granted a commission as an officer due to her previous cancer diagnosis.
Shannon refused to accept the decision and petitioned the Navy’s chain of command and then Congress. Although she gained traction and made some small changes to the regulations, it was not in time before her next deployment in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
On January 16, 2019, in Manbij, Syria, Shannon and three other Americans, were killed by a suicide attack. Shannon was the first female combat death in Syria since combat operations began against ISIS in Syria, and the first female U.S. service member killed by enemy fire in more than three years at the time.
Following her death, the Navy officially amended the regulation that Shannon fought before her deployment. (Section 60 Site, Grave11741)

Kara Spears Hultgreen, U.S. Navy (1965–1994) — Lt. Kara Spears Hultgreen was the first female carrier-based fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy, and the first woman to qualify as an F-14 combat pilot. She died on October 25, 1994, when her F-14 Tomcat crashed into the Pacific Ocean while making a final approach to the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. (Section 60, Grave 7710)

Ruth Lucas,  U.S. Air Force (1920–2013) — During World War II, Ruth Lucas enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and became one of the few Black women to attend what is now the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. She transferred from the Army to the Air Force in 1947, where she stayed for the remainder of her military career. While stationed in Tokyo, Japan as chief of the Air Force Awards Division (1951-1954), she spent much of her free time teaching English to Japanese students. Upon returning to the United States, she earned a graduate degree in educational psychology from Columbia University. She was then transferred to Washington, D.C. to develop educational programs for service members. In 1968, she became the first Black woman promoted to colonel in the Air Force. She also received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, awarded for outstanding non-combat service. (Section 64, Grave 6031)

Lenah S. Higbee, U.S. Navy (1874-1941) — Higbee completed nurse’s training in 1899 in New York City and postgraduate studies at Fordham Hospital in 1908. Later that year, she joined the U.S. Navy, becoming one of its first 20 nurses. She became the Navy’s chief nurse in 1909 and the second superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps in 1911, a position she held through World War I. Higbee received the Navy Cross for distinguished service in 1918. (Section 3, Grave 1797)

Megan Malia-Leilani McClung, U.S. Marine Corps (1972-2006) — Major Megan McClung was the first female Marine Officer killed in combat during the war in Iraq. At the time, Major McClung was serving as a public affairs officer for 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters. McClung’s work with military operational transparency impassioned her, and she was a firm advocate for media coverage of the war.
On December 6th, McClung spent the morning in Ramadi escorting Fox News’ camera crew and correspondent Oliver North, and then later returned to the area with Newsweek journalists. Her Humvee hit an improvised explosive device and instantly killed all occupants. Even more tragic was the fact that she had almost completed a year-long deployment. The journalists, who were in another vehicle, were uninjured.
McClung was the first female Marine Officer to be killed in the Iraq war, and the first female US Naval Academy graduate to be killed in action in the school’s 172-year history. Her professionalism was recounted by former colleague Colonel Riccoh Player “Megan served with the mindset of running to the sound of battle, not away from it. She accepted every mission, every billet, every challenge with vigor, creative abandon and a find-a-way-to-make-a-way ethos.”
Megan McClung’s headstone at Arlington National Cemetery is engraved with her personal mantra that described both her attitude towards media interviews and life: “Be Bold. Be Brief. Be Gone.” (Section 60, Site 8514)

Barbara Allen Rainey, U.S. Navy (1948–1982) — The first woman pilot in the Navy, Lt. Cmdr. Rainey was commissioned in 1970 and accepted into flight training school in 1974. She resigned her commission in November 1977, while pregnant with her first daughter, but remained active in the Naval Reserves. She was recalled to duty as a flight instructor in 1981. On July 13, 1982, she was killed in an aircraft accident while training another pilot. (Section 6, Grave 5813-A-7)

Betty Jane “BJ” Williams, U.S. Air Force (1919–2008) — Betty Jane “BJ” Williams was a pioneering pilot, educator and promoter of aviation. She earned her private pilot’s license in 1941, and during World War II, she served in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) as an engineering test pilot. After the WASP was disbanded in December 1944, Williams continued her aviation career as a commercial pilot, flight instructor and aerospace engineering technical writer. Commissioned as an Air Force officer during the Korean War, she produced training and motivational programs as part of the Air Force’s first video production squadron. She then served in the Air Force Reserves as a public affairs officer, retiring in 1979 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. (Section 54, Grave 2972)

6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (Women’s Army Corps)

The U.S. Army’s 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was the only all-minority, all-female Women’s Army Corps (WAC) unit to serve overseas during World War II. The primary mission of the “Six Triple Eight,” as the unit was popularly known, was to sort the two- to three-year backlog of undelivered mail for U.S. service members in the European theater of war. The unit, organized on March 4, 1945, in Birmingham, England, contained 855 officers and enlisted personnel who formed four companies. Whereas most Black units in the military contained white officers, every position in the 6888^th was staffed by Black women.

The WAC was created on July 1, 1944, from the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), which did not have official military status. Black women were allowed into the segregated WAAC, but after its conversion into the WAC, only white units served overseas until African American organizations pressured the War Department to allow for the deployment of a Black WAC unit. The War Department approved the 6888th’s deployment in November 1944.

The Army initially gave the 6888th six months to clear several warehouses filled with returned mail and packages. By working around the clock in three eight-hour shifts, including on weekends, the women accomplished their mission in only three months. When the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945, members of the 6888th shipped to Rouen, France, where they were again given six months to clear another mail backlog. Again, they did it in three. When they completed their mission, the women of the 6888th had broken all records for redirecting mail, sorting an average of 5.85 million parcels per month.

Through their dedicated service in the face of discrimination, members of the Six Triple Eight challenged barriers of both race and gender. This unit forever changed the U.S. military, helping it to better reflect the country’s diverse population. They proved, like others had before them, that African American women wanted to serve their country nobly in a time of crisis, and they provided an enduring legacy for future generations of military women.

On February 28, 2022, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Six Triple Eight; the Senate had approved the award in 2021. Other commemorations and honors include a 2009 Army commendation ceremony at the Military Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

As of March 2022, fourteen known members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Their names and gravesites are:

• Gatha Louise Amos —Section 67, Grave 1603
• Catherine Louise Bowie— Section 54, Grave 1432
• Hortense Pollard Cole— Columbarium Court 7, Section NN, Column 19, Niche 1
• Lila Virginia Burt Dale— Section 68, Grave 1308
• Margaret Y. Jackson— Columbarium Court 8, Section PP, Column 23, Niche 1
• Margaret Ellen Barnes Jones— Columbarium Court 6, Section N1, Column 14, Niche 3
• Annie B. Jordan— Section 3, Grave 4353-B
• Willia G. Knighton— Section 64, Grave 6306
• Mary Louise Peterson— Section 66, Grave 1657
• Ardella C. Pitts— Section 59, Grave 1762
• Bessie Lee Robinson— Section 43, Grave 887
• Blanche L. Scott— Section 64, Grave 2962
• Mary Crawford Ragland— Columbarium Court 7, Section PP, Column 2, Niche 5
• Allie Harshaw— Section 64, Grave 5494 — Allie Harshaw was the first Black female Air Force master sergeant to retire with thirty years of military service. She graduated from the Tuskegee Institute, a historically Black university, in 1940, and later earned a Ph.D. in Human Behavior from the United States International University at San Diego, California. In 1943, she enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) and served as a physical therapy technician with the renowned Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American flying unit in the U.S. military. She also served with the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only Black Women’s Army Corps (WAC) unit to serve overseas during World War II. Harshaw transferred to the U.S. Air Force after its creation in 1947 and served through the Korean and Vietnam Wars, retiring in 1973. In 2007, she received the Congressional Gold Medal for her service with the Tuskegee Airmen.