Charlotte (Anderson) Monture, of the Six Nations Grand River Reserve in Canada, served as one of the few American Indian Army nurses during World War I. Wanting to seek new opportunities, Monture attended the New Rochelle School of Nursing in New…
Four Lakota Sioux Catholic Sisters of the Congregation of American Sisters from Fort Pierre, South Dakota, served as contract nurses with the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Mother Bridget (Anna Pleets), Mother Joseph (Josephine…
LaRita (Bly) Aragon, of Choctaw and Cherokee heritage, enlisted in the Oklahoma Air National Guard in 1979 as a single mother with a master’s degree in education and guidance. She received her commission in 1981 after graduating from the Academy of…
Not only the first servicewoman killed in action in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Lori Piestewa, of the Hopi tribe, is also the first known American Indian woman killed in combat in the service of the United States. While on convoy in southwestern Iraq,…
Marcella (Ryan) LeBeau, a member of the Two Kettle Band of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War II, treating D-Day battle casualties. While stationed in Liege, Belgium, LeBeau remembers a German plane…
Native American Women Veteran patch
Military Women’s Memorial Foundation Collection
The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 American Community Survey reported that there were 15, 628 women American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) veterans, or roughly 11.7…
When she enlisted in the Air Force in January 1968, Ramona (Quapaw) DePrimo’s father presented her with this 100-year-old drumstick handed down from her grandfather, a Quapaw chief.