53: Pry That Medal From Her Cold Dead Fingers cover art

53: Pry That Medal From Her Cold Dead Fingers

53: Pry That Medal From Her Cold Dead Fingers

Listen for free

View show details

Season's Savings | £0.99/mo for 3 months

£5.99/mo after 3 months - terms apply. Cancel monthly
Nearly 3,500 Americans have received the Medal of Honor. Exactly one was a woman — and she’s still the only one. Dr. Mary Edwards Walker earned her medical degree in 1855, then showed up to serve as a Civil War surgeon and was told a woman couldn’t. She volunteered unpaid until the Army finally relented and appointed her a surgeon in 1863; she crossed enemy lines to treat civilians, was captured and held as a POW, and in 1865 President Andrew Johnson awarded her the Medal of Honor. A relentless crusader for dress reform and women’s suffrage, she was arrested more than once for wearing men’s clothing. When the government revoked her medal in 1917 over a technicality, she refused to return it and wore it daily until her death in 1919. It was formally restored in 1977.
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet