REVIEW: Valiant Women by Lena S. Andrews
A groundbreaking new history of the role of American servicewomen in WWII, illuminating their forgotten yet essential contributions to the Allies’ victory.
Valiant Women is the story of the 350,000 American women who served in uniform during World War II. These incredible women served in every service branch, in every combat theater, and in nearly two-thirds of the available military occupations at the time. They were pilots, codebreakers, ordnance experts, gunnery instructors, metalsmiths, chemists, translators, parachute riggers, truck drivers, radarmen, pigeon trainers, and much more. They were directly involved in some of the most important moments of the war, from the D-Day landings to the peace negotiations in Paris. These women—who hailed from every race, creed, and walk of life—died for their country and received the nation’s highest honors. Their work, both individually and in total, was at the heart of the Allied strategy that won World War II.
Yet, until now, their stories have been relegated to the dusty shelves of military archives or a passing mention in the local paper. Often the women themselves kept their stories private, even from their own families. Now, military analyst Lena Andrews corrects the record with the definitive and comprehensive historical account of American servicewomen during World War II, based on new archival research, firsthand interviews with surviving veterans, and a deep professional understanding of military history and strategy.
Review
“Women are a weapon waiting to be used.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
The book begins with a run down of the world situation in the late 1930s and how woefully unprepared the US military was. Not only were the standing branches of the military low in numbers of trained men but tactics and weaponry had drastically changed in the last 20 years.This was going to be the first war in which the US had fought that it couldn’t manage to fill its needs both in domestic productivity and in service with only men. Luckily General Marshall had already pushed to start beefing up production, supplies, and training. While needed to set the stage, these chapters were a little repetitious.
While women might have been eager and willing to join and help win WWII, it would be a long and hard slog to get some of the men to accept them in this role. Even the seeming shoo-in of nursing personnel was, at the time, a fairly recent and still somewhat controversial profession. It was mainly the Great Depression that spurred women to enter, and their families to accept, nursing. But nursing in the military? surrounded by men? dealing with knowledge of male bodies? shameful! However nurses were the first in line – in Pearl Harbor and the Philippines – to encounter the war. Several nurses in the Philippines declined to be evacuated, despite knowing of Japanese atrocities against women and nurses, because the wounded under their care needed their help.
The women’s auxiliary services were slowly brought on board in fits and starts as the various services accepted that women could free men for combat roles. Cutesy names* – except for the Marine Corps whose commandant (sadly also a racist) flatly refused saying that these women were Marines – decided and uniforms designed (Navy the best, Army the worst) most of the women leading them were handed all the responsibility but none of the authority needed to get the job done easily. Sadly the female (possibly queer) physician and daughter of Chinese immigrants whose lobbying got the WAVES off the ground (pun intended) was denied the chance to lead them due to her age.
The fact that the WAACs were not (until mid 1943) officially in the Army would cause issues as they were not initially eligible for the same pay, pension, and benefits of service. That the WAAC leader was a White Southern woman was concerning to Blacks worried about discrimination (which they did face in all the services). The WAVES got off to a better start but soon found that they had to use the age-old tactic of making their male counterparts think that an idea was theirs in order to get it accepted and done.
Women in these auxiliary forces also had to face sexism, harrassment, the risk of assault and rape, and public accusations of being out to take men’s jobs plus were called prostitutes. Pause here a minute to join me in my anger that people just trying to be patriotic had to deal with this shit. The higher-ups did accept that the women who had answered the call to service were of the more adventurous persuasion and provided a Sex Education manual that was astonishingly frank for its day. But the military was no more ready to accept lesbians than homosexuals.
Part two begins to take us overseas and show the often horrific conditions under which nurses had to work and the fact that two years later the nurses captured in the Philippines were still POWs. By 1944, the public at large and most of the military brass (including Eisenhower who was enthusiastic about the work the [now changed to] WACs were doing) had accepted that women could help the war effort in these jobs although women in the field still faced skeptical or sometimes hostile men.
Many of the women interviewed for this book seemed to dismiss their contributions as being exceptional. According to the author, others appeared to feel that what they did wasn’t real war work. But after the war, many of these women continued their tradition of service to their communities. What they did mattered and we need to remember it. This well written and accessible book will help with that. B
~Jayne
To be sure, it took the work of future generations to advance the gains of the women who served in World War II, but, wittingly or not, the women of World War II forever changed the place of women in American society. Quietly, diligently, and persistently, the military women of World War II brought the women’s movement into the modern era.
* Some of the awful ones were Femarines, WAMS, Dainty Devil-Dogs, Glamarines, Women’s Leatherneck-Aids, MARS, and Sub-Marines.
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Just finished reading “Valiant Women”. Sorry to say some women who have served as Army Reserve nurses are not considered veterans. Because they , together with clergy and lawyers, only need attend “knife and fork school”, they have not spent the required active duty period. A near relative served about nine years in the reserves as a college graduate nurse. She attended drills. summer camps. led a three hundred mile convoy and qualified to drive a five ton cargo truck, should the need arise. Members of her unit were activated, but not her. Somehow, this doesn’t seem fair. I’ve asked officials about this , but never get a reply. I feel this needs to change, if only to allow some basic recognition of service. Oh, three generations in the family have raised their right hand. My father’s service started before WWII, as a Cavalry officer.
@C. Drennon: Oh, yes. Basic recognition at the least. I’m in awe of her driving skills.