In 1965, United States involvement in Vietnam accelerated as two battalions of combat-ready Marines landed in Da Nang. Six months later, nearly 150,000 American troops were in-country, but except for a small cadre of nurses, none of them were female.
Military women were not posted to Southeast Asian combat zones in significant numbers for almost two years, despite servicewomen’s requests for deployment to Vietnam and despite the presence of civilian women in administrative and clerical positions or working with the American Red Cross and USO.