Women’s roles in the military have expanded from performing as nurses and supporting positions to combat roles. They have served the U.S. military with distinction and valor, and that is reflected in the medals and decorations that have won in the service of the United States.
24/7 Tempo has put together a list that recognizes the highest decorated female members of the U.S. military. We consulted websites of each branch of the American military, the website for the National World War II Museum as well as websites and blogs
Most of the earliest recipients of the highest medals for valor awarded by the United States were for courageous nurses who tended to the wounded and sick. An exception was Mary Walker. She was the first female surgeon in the U.S. military and for her service during the Civil War, she became the first, and so far the only, woman to win the Medal of Honor. Because she was a civilian, the honor was rescinded in 1917 but restored by President Jimmy Carter 60 years later.
Six hero nurses (a redundant phrase) received the Distinguished Service Cross during World War I. Four of these valorous women were wounded while performing their duties in combat.
Even after the guns of World War I were stilled, American nurses were confronted with a silent killer, the Spanish Flu, in 1918. Four of the nurses tending to the sick Navy personnel were awarded the Navy Cross. Only one of the nurses, Lenah S. Higbee, received hers while still living; the other three were awarded the medal posthumously, on Veterans Day in 1920.
Women edged ever closer to the frontlines in World War II, working in the flight nurse program in which they ferried wounded soldiers out of the combat zone. Many were pilots who flew many of the famed aircraft from World War II. Nearly 350,000 American women served in uniform during the war.
The more recent conflicts have women engaged in combat itself. Two women on our list — Lori Hill and Mary Jennings Hega, heroically piloted helicopters while under fire in Iraq and Afghanistan. (These are 10 of the longest wars of all time.)
Mary Walker
- Medals awarded: Medal of Honor
- Military branch: Army
- War: Civil War
Beatrice MacDonald
- Medals awarded: Distinguished Service Cross, British Military Medal, Royal Red Cross Medal 2nd Class, French Croix de Guerre, Purple Heart
- Military branch: Army
- War: World War I
Helen Grace McClelland
- Medals awarded: Distinguished Service Cross
- Military branch: Army
- War: World War I
Isabelle Stambaugh
- Medals awarded: Distinguished Service Cross, British Royal Red Cross Medal 2nd Class
- Military branch: Army
- War: World War I
Jane Jeffery
- Medals awarded: Distinguished Service Cross
- Military branch: Army
- War: World War I
Eva Jean Parmelee
- Medals awarded: Distinguished Service Cross
- Military branch: Army
- War: World War I
Lenah S. Higbee
- Medals awarded: Navy Cross
- Military branch: Navy
- War: World War I/Spanish Flu
Marie Louise Hidell
- Medals awarded: Navy Cross
- Military branch: Navy
- War: World War I/Spanish Flu
Lillian M. Murphy
- Medals awarded: Navy Cross
- Military branch: Navy
- War: World War I/Spanish Flu
Edna S. Pierce
- Medals awarded: Navy Cross
- Military branch: Navy
- War: World War I/Spanish Flu
Aleda E. Lutz
- Medals awarded: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal four times, the Oak Leaf Cluster, The Red Cross Medal, and the Purple Heart
- Military branch: Army
- War: World War II
Roberta Schilbach Ross
- Medals awarded: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal
- Military branch: Army
- War: World War II
Jacqueline Cochran
- Medals awarded: Distinguished Flying Cross
- Military branch: U.S. Army Air Corps
- War: World War II
Ruby Bradley
- Medals awarded: 34 medals and citations for bravery, including two Bronze stars
- Military branch: Army
- War: World War II/Korean War
Lori Hill
- Medals awarded: Distinguished Flying Cross
- Military branch: Army
- War: Iraq War