In God We Trust
According to government records, there were 22,000 women in uniform when World War II ended and there were some 120,000 on active duty during the Korean War. Roughly one-third of them were health care providers. Female patriots volunteered for service in the Women's Army Corps (WAC), Women in the Air Force (WAF), Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service of Navy Women's Reserves (WAVES), and Women Marines. Those who were medical personnel served in Korea in Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH units), onboard hospital ships, in MEDEVAC aircraft, and in hospitals in Japan, Hawaii, and the USA that were receiving the wounded from Korea.
In June 1950 there was only one Army nurse (Capt. Viola B. McConnell) on duty in Korea. By August of 1950 there were 100 Army nurses in Korea and by 1951 there were 400 of them. In 1950, there were only 1,950 regular and 440 reserve nurses on active duty in the Navy. That number peaked at 3,200 on active duty in July 1951. Air Force nurses pulled their weight in Korea, too, and were responsible for evacuating 350,000 patients from Korea by war's end. Stateside, mobilization of women Marine reservists took place in August of 1950. Peak active-duty women Marines during the Korean War were 2,787. They stepped into leadership and administrative roles in non-combat areas to free up male Marines for combat duty. For instance, in 1952, SSgt. Hazel A. Lindahl, a reservist from Boston, was Camp Sergeant Major of more than 40,000 Marines at Camp Lejeune—the top enlisted post.
By 1952 the government deemed it safe to send WAC personnel to the Far East. About a dozen WACs served in Pusan and Seoul in secretarial, translator and administrative positions in 1952-53, and there was a WAC support system in Japan and Okinawa. In 1950 there were only 626 WAC personnel in the Far East. By 1951, there were 2,604; by 1952, 1,791; and by 1953, 1,764. After the war (by June 30, 1954), the number of WAC personnel in the Far East had dropped to 972.
Twenty American women lost their lives in the Korean War.* Not in uniform were female war correspondents, some of whom went along with male troops to the front lines to cover combat action. Several civilian women also died in the Korean War. Although some female veterans rightly received decorations for their heroism, not all who deserved them got them. All were volunteers, and all deserve our heartfelt thanks for acting on their patriotism by joining their chosen branch of military service to help the war effort in Korea.
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*Some references indicate that seventeen women died while in service during the Korean War. However, 20 died that the KWE can verify. There is a common (and totally incorrect) "fact" as to who two of those female fatalities were. Commonly listed as female fatalities are two service personnel (SN Doris Frances Brown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and AB3 Kay Sherill Olatt of Dexter, New Mexico) whose male gender was mistaken for female gender due to their first and middle names. Often online (and published book) lists for female Korean War casualties mistakenly include Doris Brown and Kay Olatt. Doris "Dave" Brown, a World War II and Korean War veteran, was a seaman on the USS Bairoko CVE 115 when he died May 13, 1951, in an accident. He left a widow. Dave is buried in Great Lakes Naval Base Burial Ground, Lake County, Illinois. Kay Olatt was an aviation boatswain's mate on the USS Kearsarge CV33 when he died January 22, 1953. He was mortally wounded when an F9F aircraft discharged one round of 20mm ammunition upon making a normal landing on the Kearsarge. Olatt was a plane director on the flight deck when he was hit by that round.