Women and the US Military
The US Navy, Air Force, and Marines
Much like the US Army, the US Navy also had a Nurse Corps. The Navy Nurse Corps had a presence in the conflict starting in 1963. On Christmas Eve 1964, the Viet Cong bombed an officer’s accommodation wounding many, including five Navy nurses who eventually received Purple Hearts.
They became the first female armed service members to receive Purple Hearts through service in the Vietnam conflict. Aside from nurses, nine female Navy officers served in the battle. Lieutenant Elizabeth G. Wylie was a staff member of the Commander of Naval Forces and worked for the Command Information Center in Saigon, starting in 1967. Commander Elizabeth Barrett became the first female naval officer to hold a command in a combat zone in 1972.
The US Air Force also had a nurse corps in addition to a Women’s Air Force (WAF.) One of the eight military women killed during the conflict, Captain Mary Therese Klinker, was a flight nurse killed in a plane crash near Saigon during the city’s fall. Her plane had been part of Operation Babylift, which was evacuating South Vietnamese orphans to the US for adoption. One hundred and thirty-eight people were killed in the crash, including many children and women working with humanitarian agencies. Klinker was awarded the Airman’s Medal for Heroism and Meritorious Service.
The US Marines had a minimal female presence, as their stringent gender requirements had only approved 60 women to serve abroad. The vast majority of those women served in Hawaii. Only 28 enlisted female Marines and eight officers served in the conflict between 1967 and 1973. The Marine Corps continues to have the lowest percentage of female service members out of all branches, with only 8.3% of enlisted members in 2017.
Civilian Women
In addition to the numerous nurses, enlisted women, and officers who served in the conflict, many civilian women traveled to Vietnam to offer aid. Unfortunately, these numbers were not officially tracked by any organization. The most significant organizational presences were the USO, the American Red Cross, the Peace Corps, and numerous faith-based organizations. These women would have volunteered their time in various capacities from nursing, missionary work, education, childcare, and more. It can’t be forgotten that a side effect of war is many humanitarian catastrophes.
American women also traveled to Vietnam as journalists and foreign correspondents. Georgette “Dickey” Chappelle, a writer for the National Observer, was killed by a mine while accompanying marines on patrol in 1965. The Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation states that 59 civilian women were killed during the duration of the conflict. One controversial civilian appearance came from the actress Jane Fonda. A prominent anti-war activist at the time, Fonda visited North Vietnam in 1972 to draw attention to claims of US forces bombing North Vietnamese dikes, which the US continues to deny to this day. During the visit, Fonda was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. The photo and associated widespread criticism earned her the nickname “Hanoi Jane” which persists to this day.