behalf of a deeply grateful nation. at this time i would like all our co-reen war veterans, men and women alike, to stand and be recognized. [ applause ] . thank you thank you. now i have the distinct honor of introducing our keynote speaker, brigadier general promotable leslie a. purser. the detailed record of her remarkable service is included in you're vent program, but i will share with you some of the highlights of her impressive career. general purser began her military career on 25 may, 1980 when she was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the united states army. she is a graduate of the military intelligence officer basic and advanced courses, united states army commander general staff college and the

u.s. army war college. she's a distinguished military graduate of indiana university pennsylvania where she received a bachelor in graphic arts and the united states army war college where she received a masters of science in strategic studies. she's success ly commanded staff positions at every level and is currently serving as director intel ops, plans and policy, deputy chief of staff, g-2. let me point out that serving the nation is a family business in the purser household. she is married to joe purser, who is a retired army officer, still serving as a department of the army civilian employee and the army cyber command. if that wasn't enough, the pursers have two wonderful children continuing this proud tradition. jennifer, a captain currently stationed at fort wa chuk ka, arizona and justin, a first lieutenant stationed at fort campbell, kentucky. i should also point out that general purser is my boss on the

army staff which provides all the incentive i need today to ladies and gentlemen, brigadier general lessee l. purser. [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, it's both a pleasure and an honor to be invited to speak here today at this event. women's history month and today's concurrent special wreck nicks of women in the korean war provides a unique opportunity to high lit some truly inspirational stories, stories that are fundamental to the fabric of our nation as well as the military that defended it. learning about the tenacity, courage and creativity of women through various eras is a tremendous source of strength and pride. it provides role models for all of us as we move forward as a society. the military has always offered

a unique platform for individuals to break barriers to make significant contributions and it has especially provided this for women. my current position and rank are not simply a representation of hard work, but are directly related to the efforts of the women veterans who are here today. this is a long overdue opportunity to share my appreciation in the personal -- on behalf of all women serving in our military, thank you for allowing us the honor of serving our country. while our nation's constitution and legal system provide for equality under the law, there have been numerous seminal events in our quest for equality in practice.

for women in the military, none was perhaps greater than the women's armed services integration act of 1948. legislation that was drafted by then general of the army dwight eisenhower and signed into law by president truman. this act set the stage for the contributions of women serving pre korean war and established them permanently in the armed services during and after the war. as dave mentioned, some have referred to the korean war as the forgotten war. but we can never forget the contributions of captain kathy taylor and lieutenants eleanor porter, kathy drake and patricia johnson and sergeant daisy losak, all members of our distinguished panel here today. as a direct result of the extraordinary and indispensable accomplishments of women like these five ladies, further positive changes continue to occur for women both in the military and society at large. i can personally attest to the difficult challenges women in uniform have historically faced

due to bias and stigma as i'm sure many of you can. as a young lieutenant i found that despite being fully qualified for a position i sought, my request was turned down because the primary staff officer didn't want females in his director rat because they were a problem in the field environment. i was advised by my commanding officer who informed me of that decision that were i to protest this violation of equal opportunity regulations, there would be a coverup since his relationship with the staff officer was more important. years later, after marrying my husband who, as dave also mentioned, was also on active duty we elected to start our family when we were living in germany. unfortunately the corps policy prohibited child care for babies under six months of age. furthermore i was informed that were i to rejoin active duty, i would be forced to relinquish custody of my child. fortunately i found after querying my daughter, a service member herself, about equal

opportunity challenges, many of these stigmas had listened as women continued to fill the ranks in our military services. in open democratic associate sites like hours, the accepted norms especially with regards to equality, continue to evolve over time. this is clearly evidenced by the evolution of women's roles in our military since the korean war and especially highlighted during the recent conflicts in southwest and central asia. since the beginning of combat in iraq and afghanistan, 140 female army soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have lost their lives. by the end of 2011, there were nearly 213,000 female members in five active services and an additional 200,000 female service members in the reserve component and national guard. unfortunately despite the fact that the roles of women in our military have expanded greatly and that they find themselves

taking on responsibilities that routinely puts them into harm's way, there remain as lingering formal ban on women serving on the front lines. front lines, a term whose meaning has become seemingly anachronistic considering the realities of modern warfare. the recent 2012 report to congress highlighted the need to select women at battalion level in come balt organizations and eliminate the restriction on certain units and military occupational specialties. as senator scott brown has said, it is indeed time to break this brass ceiling for military women and allow them to compete for the same jobs and opportunities currently available to men. nine of our allies including canada, new zealand and norway, have already recognized this reality and have sent their female service members into combat in both theaters of war without restriction. one only need look at modern

examples to highlight the courage, capability and competency of women in our military. the first silver stars awarded to women since the second world war were bestowed in 2005 to sergeant lee ann hester. she served in iraq. in 2007 specialist monica lin brown served in afghanistan, also won a zer silver star. in both cases you would not be able to discern any limitations of gender from their award citations nor from their recollections of those whose lives they saved. sergeant sherry gallagher is the winner of the 2010 army best warrior come ticks which includes events like combatives. she's also the record setting winner in the 2010 national rifle association national championship. imagine if she was able to apply her skills in a combat military occupational specialty. i would call that a force multiplier. when we look at other examples

of our military, the success of women, we see the potential impossibilities that full inclusion of women into our military can bring. the promotion of general ann dunwoody, the first female four star general in our history, soob to be followed by the recent nomination of len lou ten naent janet wolf en burger to air force comment and rear admiral sandy stokes selected to become the superintendent of the u.s. coast guard academy, by the way, the first woman to lead a service academy. these are all perfect examples. these women have obviously risen to the top. but there are still lingering disparate at the higher echelons. in the three components of the army, for example, although the ratio of female soldiers is 17%, for general officers, 10% of us are female. that's in part due to the restrictions that remain in place. so as we look to the future, the coming years promise to be very exciting for women in the

military as additional barriers are removed and women continue to assert themselves and are afforded opportunities in positions critical to our nation's defense. the good news is, flag officer selection rates along with other selection and promotion rates for women continue to increase. although we must ensure the best candidates are always selected for senior level positions regardless of gender, the goal and mission of every woman here must be to learn from our predecessors in the korean war and continue to groom young female leaders to take on more senior roles and prepare them to face the challenges of service in the military. in close, i would like to say thank you again for the opportunity to speak to you today and to personally express my appreciation to these korean war veterans and trail blazers. i know have the pleasure of turning the podium over to lieutenant colonel nancy cantrell who serves as the army

nurse core historian at the army medical department center of history and heritage at fort sam, houston. thank you very much. thank you. really inspirational remarks, ma'am. thank you so much for your words here today. you've been a true trail blazer as many other women here in our audience who have joined us. so thank you. today we're fortunate to have lieutenant colonel promotable nancy b. cantrell joining us to share her insights and knowledge about our trail blazing women who served in the korean war. before i bring her up, i would also like to ask our lady panelists to join us on the stage at this time. if you would join us on the stage, thank you, ladies.

lieutenant colonel cantrell's complete bio is in you're vent program. let me tell you just a little bit about her career. she entered active duty in 1978 and served in germany for three years before completing her college degree at the university of south carolina. she worked as a registered nurse in the civilian sector and rose to the rank of staff sergeant in the army reserves before returning to active duty in 1989 in the army nurse core. lieutenant colonel cantrell holds a master's degree in military history from norwich university and is currently completing an mba. she's held numerous medical positions in our great army and is currently serving as the army nurse core historian. she is married to roy cantrell,

a retired army officer. they have a son cody and three step daughters, amy, app amanda and sarah. we are grateful for lieutenant colonel cantrell's contributions in making this a memorable event for our korean war veterans. lieutenant colonel cantrell is currently preparing for an upcoming deployment to afghanistan. i know which we all wish her god speed and a safe return. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in a warm welcome for lieutenant colonel nancy cantrell. [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, it is an honor to be here. it's all about you ladies. thank you for your service. it is my distinct honor and privilege to speak to you about women who serve during the korean war and to introduce five of these veterans. they were not only volunteers, but are here rows to women in uniform today. their contributions help to

secure peace in an unstable region and to safe countless lives that otherwise would have been lost. these heroes helped usher in tremendous changes for women and advancements in not only military medicine but training and doctrine. i would like to provide you with a very brief history of the korean war and the roles of women during that time. the korean war is often referred to as the forgotten war as we all know. this is reflective of the sociopolitical climate of the times and the impact on american domestically. i would like to quote alan r. millet a noted historian. he said like the pro verbal shrimp caught between two whales, the korean war is trapped between world war ii and the vietnam war in american remembrance, and that is so true. korea was under japanese rule from 1910 to 1945. japan went to war in china in 1937, exploiting korean farmers

and citizens as laborers. various national interests asserted their power with attempts to govern the area. this resulted in guerilla warfare and terrorism between the factions. in 1945, the united states and the soviet union agreed on the surrender of japanese forces in korea, dividing the peninsula into two regions bordering the 38th parallel. the soviet union occupying the north and the american presence remaining in the south. allan millet also attributed the war in korea to the post revolution conflict between two revolution naigs their movements, the marxist lennonist and capital lifts. koreans fought and killed nearly 2 million of their fellow countrymen between 1958 and 1964. it was intended to be temporary after a u.n. agreement included negotiations over elections in

an attempt to reunify their country. after the initial north korean invasion, general douglas a. macarthur led u.n. forces to o provide assistance to the republic of korea in pushing the north koreans further northward and back other the 38th parallel. they had been pushed -- the south koreans had been pushed nearly to the end of the peninsula, overwhelm by the north koreans and the chinese supporters. after the korean war began as the world knows it, south korean and americans as well as russian and chinese counterparts clashed escalating the number of casualties into the millions. almost 37,000 americans lost their lives in the korean theater. next i would like to talked about the m.a.s.h. units that we're all familiar with, probably from the tv series and the movies, but we also have some veterans here from m.a.s.h.

units. we all know and love the story about m.a.s.h. the work was not as glamorous as portrayed on the screen. surgical staff often worked for days without rest. the concept of the m.a.s.h. evolved towards the end of world war ii. the intent was to push surgical teams of skilled surgeons and nurses kroes closer to critically injured soldiers at the front. it was a fully staffed mobile facility equipped to provide definitive lifesaving surgical intervention and stabilization for transport through the system to the rear or fixed facilities. this is through the evacuation system. that was not altogether a new concept since as far back as world war i there were mobile surgical hospitals actually on the back of trucks. i just learned that at a history conference. i didn't know that. they were able to travel deep into the battle zones. the m.a.s.h. combined with

enhanced surgical techniques, more timely supply of blood products and medical supplies as well as helicopter evacuations led to dramatically increased survival rates in theater. the treatment of head injuries was improved with a more rapid transport to neurosurgeons. medical advancements that resulted from the mash concepts were innovations primarily in head trauma and vascular surgery. there were also significant improvements in anesthesia where chloroform and either gave way to nitrous oxide and pre app narcotic production and preoperative care. these medical advances and improvements in the chain of evacuation heavily influenced trauma care in future combat missions. this couple ing of medicine and aviation continued to improve. dust-off missions in vietnam were a prime example. helicopters in vietnam began --

the inception of this concept actually began in world war ii but became known in the korean war. the korean warsaw the first large scale dedicated use of rotary wing helicopters for evacuations by u.s. forces. this expanded to the movement of critically ill patients to hospital ships and transporting supplies on return sflits back to the m.a.s.h. and intermediary positions. now, women in the korean war, over a million women had served in the united states military since world war ii, since the beginning of world war ii. they provided trauma care, personnel and strategic actions, military police work and special staff work. some were trained pilots and some had been prisoners of war. many women had died for their country. less than five years after the close of world war ii, american once again found itself facing a war for which it was unprepared, primarily due to downsizing. women who served in korea were

primarily nurses, and 12 army nurses were amongst the first troops to land at incheon on september 15th, 1950. they set up they set up the first m.a.s.h. well-known to the american public, but this was a different scenario all together. during the korean war, a few women were assigned to special staff positions such as army special services serving either state sidejapan, headquarters in paris france. recruiting for women became even more of a challenge than in world war ii and some women were assigned as officer procurement specialists. we actually have one here today. the army women's medical specialist corps was is

comprised of tis therapist and dietitian, assigned state side, but small numbers received a sign up to station hospitals in europe and japan. corps strength merely doubled from 340 in june of 1950 at the start of the war to 607 in june of 1953. still doesn't sound like a lot compared to what we have today, does it. during the war, over 120,000 women from all services served on active duty. women would served during the korean war period were all volunteers. some served if combat zones, some state side and some in support areas such as japan for our eastern countries as i've mentioned. were they served, they were all a vital part of the war effort and they served bravely and honorably. war is inevitable. as is the american spirit. our panel of distinguished veterans all volunteers is a testament to that spirit and bravery. it is a tremendous honor to be

blessed with their presence today. they have been generous to offer their time to speak to us about hair experiences during the war. i will present a question to each panel member and then we'll open the floor for questions from the audience. i'm humbled and proud to welcome the panel members. please it take a minute to read their bios in your programs. and complete welcome first lieutenant kathy drake, u.s. army m.a.s.h. nurse. [ applause ] first lieutenant eleanor porter, u.s. army, women's specialist corps. [ applause ] sergeant daze city lozak, u.s. marine corps, supply specialist.

lieutenant pa trisha johnson, u.s. navy recruiter. and captain kathy taylor, u.s. air force, head nurse, station hospital medical ward in korea. [ applause ] >> we're so happy that you all are here today with us. now, i'm only going to ask one question each for the sake of time and that way we can have questions from the audience. so i will start with lieutenant drake. lieutenant drake, did you feel that medical training for combat was adequate for the numbers and sent of injuries that you encountered in the m.a.s.h.? how well did the movie and tv series portray what your teams

endured? >> myself, i had no training at all going in on combat zone. i was stationed at walter reed hospital and i had good training at walter reed in the operating room and also i trained in nurse's training i thought was very well done for me to work if will korea. but we had no combat ahead of time about going into a combat zone. all we did was just work 12 hours a day like when we were in the m.a.s.h. we had seven plaoperating room tables going in one great big tent and and you would of our supplies were in food lockers and we were always short of lynn again linens. so you would just layout a towel and a couple instruments. but if it was a major surgery, we did have linens for that. we were always a very close knit group. we all just worked hard. and the main thing about being in a combat zone is the living

quarters. wre we were all in tents. and it was wintertime. when we bathed, we would all go into one big tent and season up and hope the water would come on. sometimes there would be one of the doctors or corpsman in there by mistake that got the wrong time but you didn't pay mention take to it. i met my husband in korea. he was an anesthesiologist with our unit. and on our first date, i went to the head nurse, which is hot lips, but she really want, ruth dixon, and asked her if i could go to seoul with one of the canadian doctors had a jeep, the american doctors didn't have any jeeps. and we went to seoul to the px and she said, well, when you go, i want you to gets a many kotex as you can because the army for gets that we have women. so i go into the little korean, i go it up to withis px. forgets that we have women. so i go into the little korean, i go it up to this px.

and i asked the little korean, she said, i need kotex. oh, i understand. they had a little place where you could look at jewelry. so i'm looking at that and i come back and he says i got it for you, i got it for you. he's got boxes of silver tex which is the condom for the army. and about that time, 30 gis appeared. i don't know where at the came from, but where they were and they're all saying where are you located? and so then i'm trying to fell the little korean that they're for me, and i know they're for you, i got them for you. i said i need kote k367x. i i finally did get it, but in the meantime, here comes this young lieutenant, dr. drake, and he sees me there and he has a bag of pop corp and he pretended like he didn't know me. you got yourself into this, you get yourself out. but i do want to say that

there's one group of people i think that is never recognized in the army and that's the graves registration. they're the ones that tag the bodies and i think there's never given any credit to them, at least i never hear anything about it. and that's one continuing i'd like on mention today and i also say that i loved being in the service and i'd recommend any girl graduating as a nurse to join the service because it was wonderful for me. i met the most wonderful friends that stayed my friends all my life. >> thank you. lieutenant porter, while serving in the women's medical specialist corps in 1952, you played an important role in the war effort, that of rehabilitating soldiers. how did it work provide an understanding of battlefield conditions in korea?

>> well, i don't think they talked much about their biting when they came back. they talked about how hot it was in the summer, how cold it was in the winter, how much rained all the time that they would be stuck in -- i know one soldier that was stuck in the m.a.s.h. hospital for over almost three weeks becauses of raining so hard they couldn't get him will out. the hills were high. and if you dropped anything, it ended up at the bottom of the hill. i had one patient who ended up with a jeep rolling down the hill on top of him. and it just was if you send your underwear to have it washed or something, if you weren't right there when it came back, it was stolen. we heard those complaints. i met my husband. he was one of my patients.

the reason he does so well now is because he had such a good physical therapist. he was a flirt. and a lot of the guys were then. and i was quite young. and at that time they didn't have -- he's a double amputee. and they didn't have the shrinkage that they use now, so we used to have to bandage their legs to shrink them so they could get in to their prosthetics. and i used to be trying to bandage and he would grab on to my hands and i'd say you're going to get me in trouble. but we ended up getting married, and we've been married now 58 years this month. and one day -- i'd like to go into now there korea.