Military - Lighting the Way, Historic Women of the SouthCoast

Lillian Lorraine Yonally

A World War II Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP), Lillian Lorraine Yonally (1922-2021) grew up in New Bedford, where she sailed the ocean before taking to the skies. Out of 25,000 WASP applicants, Lillian was one of 1,074 to graduate and one of only 20 to fly the Mitchell B-25 medium bomber.

Florence Eastman

The only woman to enlist in World War I from Mattapoisett, Florence Eastman (1894-1918) became the Head Army Nurse of the Isolation Hospital at Camp Mills, Mineola, Long Island, with 20 nurses and over 100 orderlies under her supervision.

Helen Worthing Webster

A pioneering doctor and champion of physical activity for women, New Bedford’s Helen Worthing Webster (1837-1904) graduated from New England Female Medical College in Boston as a Doctor of Medicine.

Mary Elizabeth Hartley

A U.S. military veteran with overseas tours during three wars, Lieutenant Colonel Mary Elizabeth Hartley (1920-1999) served in the Army Nurse Corps for 25 years, from 1942 to 1967.

Martha Bush Gray

Known as the “Mother of the 54th,” Martha Bush Gray was an African American Civil War nurse who served the troops of the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Regiments in the South.