Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II

by Lena S. Andrews

Overview

National Bestseller * Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist

"An ingenious look at WWII.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

A groundbreaking new history of the role of American servicewomen in WWII, illuminating their forgotten yet essential contributions to the Allies’ victory.

Valiant Women is the story of the 350,000 American women who served in uniform during World War II. These incredible women served in every service branch, in every combat theater, and in nearly two-thirds of the available military occupations at the time.

They were pilots, codebreakers, ordnance experts, gunnery instructors, metalsmiths, chemists, translators, parachute riggers, truck drivers, radarmen, pigeon trainers, and much more. They were directly involved in some of the most important moments of the war, from the D-Day landings to the peace negotiations in Paris. These women—who hailed from every race, creed, and walk of life—died for their country and received the nation’s highest honors. Their work, both individually and in total, was at the heart of the Allied strategy that won World War II.

Yet, until now, their stories have been relegated to the dusty shelves of military archives or a passing mention in the local paper. Often the women themselves kept their stories private, even from their own families.

Now, military analyst Lena Andrews corrects the record with the definitive and comprehensive historical account of American servicewomen during World War II, based on new archival research, firsthand interviews with surviving veterans, and a deep professional understanding of military history and strategy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063088337
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/01/2023
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	20,937
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Lena Andrews is a military analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. She has a PhD in political science from MIT, specializing in international relations and security studies. She has spent more than a decade in foreign policy, having previously worked at the RAND Corporation and the United States Institute of Peace.

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/29/2023

Military analyst Andrews debuts with an enlightening revisionist history spotlighting combat support by women in WWII. In addition to working in factories, offices, and depots around the country, more than 350,000 women served in the WAACs (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps), the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Service), and other all-female corps. They brought tenacity, patience, and charismatic leadership to their roles, Andrews writes, but they earned half of what men were paid, were not assigned ranks, and were subject to a code of conduct stricter than the men’s. The book’s subjects served, among other roles, as advisers, cryptologists, draftswomen, nurses, oceanographers, spies, teachers, and transporters. For example, Charity Adams led the Black women of the 6888th Central Postal Battalion who broke up the massive backlog of mail sent to soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge; test pilot Florene Miller flew planes across the United States to prepare them for missions overseas; and instrument mechanic Jessie Kontrabecki repaired planes for the Navy before training men to fly them. Through interviews with the few servicewomen still alive and comprehensive research, Andrews takes an ingenious look at WWII “in a different way.” It’s a must-read for women’s and military history buffs. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Lena Andrews's lively book uncovers the little-known story of the amazing variety of women—from nurses to scientists, clerks to pilots—who sometimes had to fight a double battle during World War II: against the Axis powers, and against men who belittled their vital contributions.” — ADAM HOCHSCHILD, author of American Midnight and King Leopold's Ghost

From the Publisher

★ 07/01/2023

By the end of the World War II, more than 350,000 U.S. women had served in uniform in several auxiliary units created by the military. Sometimes that meant being mere miles away from the front lines. In her first book, CIA military analyst Andrews explores the vital roles that women filled—pilots, machinists, instructors, chemists, codebreakers, weather observers, and more—in the Army Air Corps' Women Airforce Service Pilots, the Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, the Coast Guard's Semper Paratus—Always Ready, and the Marine Corps' Women's Reserve. These organizations experienced growing pains as their commanders, newly minted women officers, fought stubborn and suspicious men over their worth and capabilities. The women faced harassment by men who were military personnel and questions about their morals and sexuality. In addition to that, Black volunteers battled racism. Based on interviews, memoirs, and extensive archival research, this engaging book offers a wide-ranging look at women's contributions to the war effort. VERDICT Readers interested in women's and military history, especially World War II events and experiences, will value this book.—Chad E. Statler

Library Journal

★ 2023-05-24
The extraordinary achievements of women serving during World War II.

Andrews, a military analyst at the CIA, has interviewed many of the last remaining survivors of the war effort, and she also incorporates many other first-person accounts written over the years. Her work encompasses all of the official U.S. programs created during the war years to incorporate women in the military. These included the Women’s Army Corps, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, the Marine Corps Women’s Reserves, the Navy’s Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, and the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve. Though her focus remains on the impressive achievements of the women on the battlefield, she also amply delineates the contribution to the “unstoppable” manufacturing effort across the country by noncombatant forces. “By one account,” she writes, “women composed nearly forty percent of the workers in war industries by 1944 and, at their peak, made up thirty-five percent of the overall labor force, a ten percent increase from before the war.” Ultimately, noncombatant forces “were a critical, though often unseen and underappreciated, element of battlefield operations.” Andrews begins with the Army and Navy nurses stationed in the Philippines and at Pearl Harbor, the first women in uniform to participate in the war effort. The author creates a host of illuminating biographical portraits, including that of Oveta Culp Hobby, the enormously influential head of WAC who helped convince Congress to authorize the program, with the support of Eleanor Roosevelt and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Marshall. Andrews also explores the media’s efforts to undermine women servicemembers with questions about uniforms, the inclusion of Black women, and trumped-up accusations of lesbianism and indecency. The author shows how the Navy and Marines very reluctantly fell in line and how the sterling contributions of thousands of women eventually convinced most skeptics. It’s a welcome celebration of military heroes who deserve more recognition.

An invaluable addition to our knowledge of the Allied victory.

Kirkus Reviews