Women have been an integral part of the nation's war effort since the American Revolution.
Women have been an integral part of the nation's war effort since the American Revolution. Here, we will scratch the surface of the ways women have served since World War I:
* World War I saw 20,000 women nationwide serve in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, with 10,000 stationed overseas, often close to the frontlines.
* In World War II, aside from nursing units, there was the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), which gained full military status as the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in 1943. There was the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve, the Marine Corps Women's Reserve (USMCWR), United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve and the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs).
While men went off to fight the war, these organization provided vital support services. And, the women were not necessarily safe; WASPs, for example, flew aircraft around the country for training and shipment overseas. "Women who stepped up were measured as citizens of the nation, not as women," said Oveta Culp Hobby, the first director of the Women's Army Corps. "This was a people's war, and everyone was in it."
* While 350,000 women served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II, women also took on vital manufacturing jobs in a workforce depleted by the draft and volunteers. Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent.
* Women were also recruited into the Women's Land Army at home, taking on countless agricultural jobs vacated by men fighting overseas.
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* Women continued to serve through Korea and Vietnam, and the Gulf War included an unprecedented proportion of women from the active forces (7 percent) as well as the Reserve and National Guard (17 percent). According to American Women in Uniform, it was the largest female deployment in U.S. history.
* In 2013, the United States removed the military's prior ban on women serving in combat.
* Currently, women make up 14 percent of the military's 1.4 million active members and more than 280,000 of them have done tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan or on overseas bases.
We salute the women from New Jersey who assisted in American war efforts. Here's a gallery of just a small sampling of them.
Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.