Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Why not a USS Loretta Prefectus Walsh?

I posted an item yesterday about the Navy's first female sailor, Chief Yeoman Loretta Prefectus Walsh:

Loretta Perfectus Walsh joined the U.S. Navy, something that only became a legal possibility two days prior when first authorized by the Secretary of the Navy.  She joined at the rank of Chief Yeoman.

 Navy recruiting poster aimed specifically at women.
Apparently a lot of people find her story interesting, as it went, in one day, from being posted to being one of the top ten most viewed threads on the blog.  I received a couple of complaints about not filling in more of her story.

Well, that's hard to do as information on her isn't readily available.  I did learn that she was apparently a nurse.

What she definitely was, was first. 

With all the news on women in the service it occurs to me, even though I oppose women being in combat, that the Navy ought to consider naming a ship for Chief Yeoman Walsh.  Sure, she didn't stay on the burning deck of a frigate as it went down at sea, but she did die in the service (and I'll expound on the nature of disease in the early 20th Century a bit later, as I'm finding that not only topical, but due to complaints about that, not well understood in our current era).  

Maybe it could be a hospital ship, or whatever type of medical vessel we now have.

So, anyhow, I'm in favor of a USS Loretta Perfectus Walsh.  I may be darned near the only one, but first to join, and she died as a result of it.  She deserves it.

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