Two more statues have been added to the pile over at Okaloosa Island’s Women’s Vet Park. The two new statues are of an unnamed Haudenosaunee woman and Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole Gee.
They join several deserving women from various backgrounds who fought to make our country free. Women like Margaret Corbin, who was technically never in the military during the American Revolution, or Cathey Williams, who lied about her gender to enlist and fight for freedom in the Civil War.
But there is still one woman who absolutely deserves a statue – and still doesn’t have one on the island. Dr. Mary Edwards Walker.
Walker is the only woman ever to have received the Congressional Medal of Honor. And at one point, the government took it away from her.
Walker, one of the first women to earn the title of medical doctor in the United States, administered medical aid to many Union troops throughout the Civil War until she was captured by insurrectionist forces.
Initially, she tried to become an officer in the military, but because women weren’t allowed to join as doctors, the military offered her a spot in nursing instead. Insulted, she refused and decided to volunteer.
By 1863, the Union was desperately in need of doctors and decided to revise its old rules that had banned women from practicing medicine.
A year later, she was captured by rebels – and was swapped in a prisoner exchange four months later.
A year after her release, President Andrew Johnson awarded her the Medal of Honor, despite the fact that she had never been a formal member of the military, though the distinction didn’t really seem to bother anyone when she was captured as an enemy and held.
After the war, Dr. Walker returned to her advocacy for women’s suffrage. During that time, she began to wear men’s clothes and was even arrested for ‘impersonating a man’ several times.
I’m sure her alternative clothing choices had nothing to do with the fact that she still does not have a statue.
Sure of it.
The War Department officially revoked her Medal of Honor in 1917, citing that she was not an official member of the military when Johnson awarded her the recognition. 910 other people had their medals taken at the same time.
Walker would die in 1919 – the year women finally voted in national elections for the first time, thanks to suffragists and the 19th Amendment.
Jimmy Carter would right the wrong of her medal revocation in 1977, 60 years after it was taken from her.
Dr. Walker’s story is a part of America’s story. She represents what is right with this country, service before self – even when the government doesn’t love you back. She was steadfast, fought for what she believed in, and was exactly who God made her.
It’s a shame we took her recognition away from her, and with it, a piece of the chance for children to have a role model like Dr. Mary Walker.
We can help to right that wrong by ensuring the next statue of a woman veteran on Okaloosa Island features her.
Pro Communi Bono
St. Francis De Sales, Ora Pro Nobis!
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