Female firsts throughout history Female First 1863 - Dr. Mary Edwards Walker - Medal of Honor recipient 1898 - Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee - Army surgeon 1917 - Loretta Walsh - first yeoman in USN 1918 - Opha M. Johnson - first to join Marine 1931 - Maxine Dunlap - to earn glider pilot license 1932 - Amelia Earhart - Distinguished Flying Cross recipient 1942 - Ann Leah Fox - Purple Heart recipient 1942 - Col. Oveta Culp Hobby - WAC director 1942 - Capt. Mildred McAfee - WAVES director 1942 - Lt. Comm. Dorothy Stratton - SPARS (USCG) director 1942 - Jacqueline Cochran - founded WASP 1943 - Col. Ruth Streeter - MCWR (USMC) director 1943 - Lt. Elsie Ott - Air Medal recipient 1943 - Lt. Edith Greenwood - Soldier's Medal recipient 1943 - Lt. Cordelia Cook - Bronze Star recipient 1944 - Mary Roberts Wilson - Silver Star recipient 1948 - Sgt. Esther M. Blake - first to join USAF 1948 - Col. Geraldine Pratt May - WAF director 1953 - Barbara Olive Barnwell - Navy-USMC Medal of Heroism 1953 - Jacqueline Cochran - to break sound barrier 1960 - Col. Oveta Culp Hobby - Army Distinguished Service Medal recipient 1967 - MSgt. Barbara Dulinsky - Marine ordered into combat (Vietnam) 1970 - Anna Mae Hays - Army general 1971 - Jeanne Holm - USAF General 1971 - A3C Janet Mason - WAF at Holloman AFB 1972 - Alene Duerk - Navy Admiral 1972 - A1C Sylvia Stallings - Integrated WAF at Holloman AFB (Security Forces) 1978 - Margaret Brewer - Marine General 1979 - Hazel W. Johnson - African-American General 1983 - Dr. Sally K. Ride - astronaut into space 1990 - Cmdr. Darlene Iskra - commander of USN ship 1992 - Mae Jemison - African-American astronaut 1993 - Shiela Widnall - Sec. of the Air Force 1995 - Lt. col. Martha McSally - first to fly combat sortie 1995 - Lt. Kelly Flinn - B-52 pilot 1999 - Eileen Collins - Shuttle pilot 2002- Col. Ruby Bradley - most highly decorated female 2003 - Capt. Jennifer Wilson - B-2 pilot 2004 - Capt. Donna Kohout Douglass - F-117A pilot 2006 - Chief MSgt. Marjorie McNichols - 49th Fighter Wing Command Chief 2007 - Maj. Nicole Malachowski - Thunderbird pilot