On this day in 1893, a professor stands atop Pikes Peak in Colorado. She is struck by the beauty around her and is inspired to write a poem. Her poem is later set to music. Today, we all know that song as “America the Beautiful.” It nearly became America’s national anthem. The professor was Katharine Lee Bates, daughter of a minister and teacher. Her father unfortunately passed away when she was young, but her mother managed to send Bates to Wellesley College anyway. Bates la

At about this time in 1987, a former Navy nurse passes away. Jane Louise “Candy” Kendeigh is best known for her service during World War II. She was the first Navy flight nurse to land in an active Pacific combat zone during World War II. She’d just been wrapping up nursing school when the Japanese attacked at Pearl Harbor. She was soon volunteering for the brand-new School of Air Evacuation, ultimately graduating with its first class. That training was no picnic, coverin

On this day in 1996, a heroine passes away. Cordelia “Betty” Cook Fillmore is best known for her service in the U.S. Army: She was the first American woman to be awarded both the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. The Kentucky native had served in World War II as a combat nurse, leaving behind her new husband to do it. She’d married Army officer Capt. Harold E. Fillmore just one short month before being deployed. The two would not see each other for 21 months! They were

At about this time in 1943, a Marine arrives at Camp Lejeune. You may know Bea Arthur for her Hollywood success and roles on Maude and The Golden Girls, but did you know she was also a Marine during World War II? She wasn’t Bea Arthur back then. When she applied to the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, her name was Bernice Frankel. She’d applied just five days after the Marines announced the creation of the Women’s Reserve on February 13, 1943. “I was supposed to start work y

On this day in 1919, American aviatrix Ruth Law breaks an altitude record. It was just one of many records that she’d break. Indeed, Law was so well-known during her day that reporters used to call her Angel Ruth or Queen of the Aces. And yet most Americans today have never heard of this daring pioneer. Law bought her first airplane from Orville Wright in 1912. She hoped he’d teach her to fly, but he refused to do it. He thought women were not mechanically inclined. Law was

On this day in 1731, future First Lady Martha Washington is born. History has relegated Martha to a simple label: George’s wife. What a shame! Martha was a vivacious, bright, capable woman with her own story to tell. “She is both famous as the first First Lady and completely unknown,” her biographer Patricia Brady concludes. The future Mrs. Washington’s given name at birth was Martha Dandridge—but her family called her “Patsy.” The Dandridges were modestly successful plantati

On this day in 1951, the first “Engineeress” in the Coast Guard passes away. Myrtle Hazard was the first woman to serve in the Coast Guard—and the only woman to serve during World War I. It was perhaps an unexpected path for the young mother to take? When the United States entered World War I, Myrtle was living in Baltimore with her husband, parents, and three-year-old son. She saw an ad for the Y.M.C.A.’s Wireless and Commercial Telegraphy School. The ads promised “Goo

On this day in 1766, a little-known Revolutionary War heroine is born in South Carolina. At the age of 15, Dicey Langston would make a Paul Revere-like dash in the middle of the night. Revere was fortunate to have a horse: Dicey had only her feet! She also had the swift currents of a local river standing between her and her destination. Dicey made her run even though she’d already been admonished to quit passing intelligence on to Patriot groups. Her father was getting worr

On this day in 1908, a new chapter begins for the United States Navy as a new Nurse Corps is authorized. Twenty pioneering women would soon be selected as the Corps’ first nurses. Together, they came to be known as the “Sacred Twenty.” The idea of Navy nurses had been slow to take hold. “The strongest resistance came from within the Navy itself,” historian Susan H. Godson explains. “Many older senior medical officers had never worked with women nurses . . . . They could o

On this day in 2014, a former Army nurse passes away. Lille Margaret Steinmetz Magette was among those who heroically served in military hospitals during World War II. These women didn’t experience a particularly dramatic battle, earning a place in history books. Instead, they simply served, making sacrifices day after day. The accumulation of their contributions was vital to victory. Lille was just your prototypical American girl, born and raised in small town Missouri.

On this day in 1967, the first female Marine assigned to duty in a combat zone lands overseas. Barbara Dulinsky had volunteered for the mission, despite its inherent dangers. It wasn’t just any combat zone, you see. MSgt. Dulinsky had volunteered to go to Vietnam. Dulinsky had then been serving in the Marine Corps for nearly two decades. She’d advanced steadily through the ranks until she was a Senior Drill Instructor for female Marines at Parris Island, South Carolina.

On this day in 1839, Sybil Ludington Ogden, the so-called female Paul Revere, passes away. You know about Revere’s ride, but you may not have heard of Sybil’s. She made it in April 1777, when she was only 16 years old. She rode more than twice as far as Revere did—and through rockier roads and more sparsely settled country! Her goal? To tell the men in her father’s regiment that the British had raided the town of Danbury, Connecticut. The regiment, then on leave, was needed

On this day in 1781, Americans lose the Battle of Cowan’s Ford. They also suffer a devastating incident at nearby Torrence’s Tavern. It was a low point for the Patriot cause. Nevertheless, you’ll love the patriotic heroine who makes an appearance at the end of the story! At this point in the Revolution, British forces led by General Charles Cornwallis were working to establish a base in the South. Cornwallis was then opposed by General Nathanael Greene, commander of the sou

On this day in 1943, Mrs. Ruth C. Streeter is commissioned as a Major in the United States Marine Corps. She would serve as the first director of the newly formed Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. Women served in every branch of our military during World War II, but the Marine Corps went a step further: These women didn’t merely serve in some sort of auxiliary service, as women in the Navy, Army, or Coast Guard did. They were full-fledged Marines. The Commandant of the Marine Cor

On this day in 1832, Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, one of the patriotic women behind the folk hero “Molly Pitcher,” dies in Pennsylvania. Who on earth is Molly Pitcher?! Have you ever heard of her? The story of Molly Pitcher is partly legend, which makes it difficult to tell where the real story ends and the mythology begins. But the legend appears to be based on the stories of two women: Margaret Cochran Corbin and Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley. In 1778, Mary was married to h

On this day in 1941, Navy nurses scramble to create a memorable Christmas for their patients aboard USS Solace , then anchored at Pearl Harbor. It would be no easy chore: The patients, nurses, and crew were still reeling from the unexpected Japanese attack mere weeks before. Yet hope and optimism were critical for patients to heal, as Chief Nurse Grace Lally well knew. Thus, in the days after the attack, she’d instructed her nurses to be cheerful. “The nurses smiled, joked,

On this day in 1941, Pearl Harbor reels from a surprise Japanese attack. Have you ever thought about the Navy nurses present on that day so long ago? Like many others, those nurses were abruptly shoved into war when Japanese planes unexpectedly descended upon the American base. It was the opposite of the Hawaiian assignment that, until then, had been a cushy one. “I thought I was living a charmed life,” Lt. Ruth Erickson later said. She was at the Naval Hospital and woul

On this day in 1941, civilians and military on the Hawaiian island of Oahu enjoy a beautiful day, blissfully unaware that the United States would soon be at war. Have you ever thought about the military nurses stationed at Pearl Harbor that weekend? They were about to be put in a unique position, yet they had no way of knowing it. Indeed, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor early on December 7, it marked the first time in American history that Army nurses were at the

On this day in 1751, Revolutionary War patriot Margaret Cochran Corbin is born. Margaret is one of the patriotic women behind the folk hero “Molly Pitcher.” “[Molly Pitcher] has held a revered place in the patriotic lore of the American Revolution,” one National Archives article concludes, “right next to Betsy Ross.” Yet no one is sure if one woman inspired the legend or if “Molly Pitcher is merely a persona created from numerous sources.” Whether she was the true inspira

On this day in 1864, the future Anita Newcomb McGee is born. She’s been called the “Founder of the Army Nurse Corps” because of her work in establishing military nursing at the turn of the century. McGee was Anita Rosalie Newcomb at birth, the daughter of two respected academics. Her parents both valued education and ensured that Anita got the best schooling available to a young girl in that day and age. She even studied abroad at one point. Anita was a researcher, a wr