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.
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…
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,…
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…
Tyonajanegen (“Two Kettles Together”) of the Oneida tribe, fought in the Battle of Oriskany, one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War. Tyonajanegen, her husband, 60-100 Oneida warriors, and a band of troops led by General Herkimer were…