A Piece Of My Heart

In addition to all the roles patriotic women played in helping America emerge victorious, one of the biggest methods was nursing. Battle nurses were organized into army ranks, the highest rank having been ‘matron’. Their necessity was so that the ratio for wounded soldiers to nurses was 10:1. Even George Washington himself had found female nurses indispensable--he demanded they be present to help nurse soldiers back to health on and off the battlefield (National History Education Clearinghouse).

For most of this Word War, nurses were the only females to attend outside of Australia in any capacity, except for the Australian Women's Army Service. During this war the losses of nurses was much higher than the las war. Over 3,477 Australian Army Nurse Service (AANS) nurses served, and out of that only 71 never returned, which means they lost their lives during operating services while overseas. During World War II, many women serving as AANS nurses, including Vivian Bullwinkel, were taken captive of war by the Japanese forces in Japan. They experienced severe suffering, withdrawal, and illness helped to make this unpleasant war-time experience for themselves and also friends/family. Friendships, trustworthiness and mutual support attempted to help in these trying environments, but not all of the women survived. (see appendix

Over 5000 volunteer nurses’ north and south served in military hospitals during the Civil War. Nurses were of all sorts and came from all over. Women wanted to be involved in this national struggle in any way they could. They did not want to stay home and play their traditional domestic roles that social convention and minimal career opportunities had confined the majority of their sex to. Many women thought of nursing as an extension of their home duties, almost like taking care of “their boys.” They recall the Civil War as a time when their work as nurses made a difference. It gave them an opportunity to prove they had the ability and courage to help.

Even though men said the battlefield was no place for women, these ladies contributed in their own ways. One of the main ways women committed to the war effort was by taking the job of a nurse (Youhn). Women had a lot more experience caring for the sick and wounded, along with keeping a room sterile, than men (Youhn). Some of these

Prior to WWI, women were only allowed to be a military nurse but even then, they weren 't actually enlisted. They were taking care of the men during the war and wasn’t given no type of recognition for doing so. Women 's roles

When mixing the push for equality between the sexes, the military is no exception. Traditionally, women have helped on the battlefield by providing medical help. Until the 1950s, women's primary career option in the military was medical nurse. The Korean War encouraged female nurses to interact on the ground in combat as support units to the combat arms branches. Real change started when, in 1969 and '72 when the Air Force, Army and Navy opened up the

were determined to become involved, often lying about their age to fit the requirements. Others took other jobs in the hospital serving as cooks, laundress and assistants. Women who served as nurses seemed to gain respect from society who initially was against them serving close to battles. “The army of relief workers that labored for millions of hours alongside soldiers instituted greater change in public attitudes about women at work than those who challenged perspective notions of femininity.” A soldier in Virginia described his experience with a nurse in a letter to his mother, “I saw one young lady in the very front of the battle dressing wounds and aiding the suffering where few surgeons dared to go.” His letter described

The roles of women and men in the Vietnam War varied greatly due the stereotypical characterizations of society. While women were not included in the draft, protected from its brutality and tragedies, men were forced from their homes, enlisted in the army. In O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, women are portrayed as apathetic towards Vietnam soldiers. They are the homebound sex, too fragile and moral to be aware of the world outside their own, and unable to empathize with the emotional baggage that the soldiers carry. Through The Things They Carried, O’Brien characterizes women as ignorant and thus, insensitive towards the men’s pain in war.

As the war carried on nursing duties became more advanced medically. Male nurses were primarily ward attendants which performed nursing duties. Men were considered a minority in this profession and were not treated well by the soldiers. Soldiers preferred a woman because having a woman nurse made them feel more comfortable reminding them of home having a mother or sister caring for them. Nursing in this era was not considered a prestigious job.

WWII brought forth abundance of opportunity for Women, while the United States sought to expand the military on an exponential level. Furthering American resources, Congress implemented the Women Army Auxiliary Corps, which allowed women to volunteer for armed forces. Prior to that, a nurse was the only military position a woman could’ve been appointed. This was extremely significant in the eyes of many women, because being in the military was the first time for many they felt some sense of equality.

While most women stayed on the home front, each contributing their own skills, some women grabbed a uniform instead. Nearly 350,000 women served in the army during WWII (American Women). First lady Eleanor Roosevelt helped give women the boost they needed to fight in the war. New organizations were created to accompany the new women soldiers in each military branch. The Women’s Army Corps, the Navy Women’s Reserve, the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, the Women’s Air force Service Pilots, the Army Nurses Corps, and the Navy Nurse Corps were the major organizations that women joined to assist the war effort (Women). Even though women joined the military, they did not necessarily fight. Many took over jobs such as driving trucks, radio operators, and repairing airplanes. They allowed more men to fight on the frontline because there was still a belief that women were not as capable as men. But, women were appreciated enough to receive medals of Honor. 1,6000 nurses were honored “for bravery under fire and meritorious service” (Women). Women’s success in the military during the war assured an eternity of opportunities for other women across the nation.

It is a full-length study of the history of the Army Nurse Corps in World War II. She interviewed with many “World War II women veterans- Army nurses, WACs, Women Marines, SPARS, and WASPs” to get their stories and personal memories of their experience in the field. She used information from personal interviews, meetings with former army nurses, official army reports, and the memoirs of Theresa Archbard and Ruth Haskell. Throughout the book, the author made sure to “emphasize the experiences of the nurses themselves, quoting them directly whenever possible in an effort to let the women speak for themselves”, but she also includes how the “U.S. Army Nurse Corps mobilized, expanded, and adapted to the demands of a world war”.

Many on each side of the issue cite the alleged physical and mental differences between males and females, the effect of the presence of the opposite sex on the battlefield, and the traditional view of male soldiers as arguments both for and against women being employed as soldiers under combat situations. Since very few countries employ a fully integrated military, there are few references available to prove or disprove the arguments. Although women are recruited to serve in the military in most countries, only a few countries permit women to fill active combat roles.

The sexist stereotypes of men and women significantly enforced their roles in the Vietnam War. While the draft excluded women, protecting them from war’s brutality and tragedies, men were forced from their homes to be enlisted in the army. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, a platoon is comprised of struggling young men whose lives are challenged each day. On the other hand, women blissfully live in the states, provided with complete comfort and security, both of which the soldiers are not able to acquire. There is a tremendous discrepancy between the lives at war and in the states. Those who are not exposed to the world outside their own have an inability to empathize with the emotional baggage that the soldiers carry. Throughout

Women from all over the world, in various geographic spaces, social and cultural contexts, who play roles of mothers, daughters, wives, mourners and victims experience war (Riley, 2008 p. 1192). Which then has had a huge impact on how women are seen and represented in relations to war, aiming towards what they are expected to be and do, and the strength of the repercussions suffered for acting outside the gender boundaries within particular spaces (Riley, 2008 p. 1192). Which comes to the idealistic understandings of gender normality i.e. masculinity and femininity and how they have been used in relations to military and war (Riley, 2008 p. 1193). Because when thinking of war, one can automatically come to the natural assumption that war and military can be viewed as the quintessential masculine activity (McLaughlin, 1990 p.