Guest post written by The Woman with a Purple Heart author Diane Hanks
Diane Hanks has a BFA in Creative Writing from Roger Williams University and an MA in Professional Writing & Publishing from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. A medical writer by day, she has written numerous screenplays and recently returned to her first love—writing novels. Diane also is a mentor for the Writers Guild Initiative, which makes the art of storytelling accessible to underserved populations. When not writing, she enjoys walking by the river.
Based on the real life of Lieutenant Annie Fox, Chief Nurse of Hickam Hospital, The Woman with a Purple Heart is an inspiring WWII novel of heroic leadership, courage, and friendship that also exposes a shocking and shameful side of history.
Every story has a protagonist, who is also our hero or, in some cases, particularly over the last decade or so, an antihero. John Wick. Thomas Shelby. John Dutton. Each one beloved by the audience. We can find the same beloved antiheroes in novels. Who doesn’t have a soft spot for Edward Rochester, Tyrion Lannister, or even Hannibal Lecter? Naming female antiheroes, is more difficult unless you take a look at superheroes like Catwoman. If you did an Internet search for male versus female heroes, what you would likely get is a list of articles, essays, and white papers on the topic, mostly in the context of superhero movies. But what about in the context of everyday life?
Our everyday, “real” heroes might include soldiers, police officers, firefighters, and first responders. Women fulfill these roles now too, but would you envision a woman? Probably not. And that’s not your fault. We still have a lot of catching up to do. Women make up about 13% of full-time law enforcement officers (Statista), and a mere 5% of career firefighters are women (USFA). According to the latest statistics from the Department of Defense (DoD), women made up only 17% of the United States’ active-duty force in 2021. Thus, it’s less likely that you would conjure a woman’s face if asked to name a hero not found at your local cineplex.
Does this mean we simply continue to have fewer female heroes in films and novels? Or does it mean that women need to redefine the definition of hero?
Where does our definition of a hero come from? If we look to various dictionaries, the words used to define ‘hero’ are very similar: great strength, great courage, illustrious warrior, war hero, very brave. I could assign nearly every one of these characteristics to Lieutenant Annie Fox, Chief Nurse of Hickam Hospital, and heroine of my novel, The Woman With a Purple Heart. Annie was the first woman to be awarded a Purple Heart, but chances are you’ve never heard of her – or Hickam Hospital, which was part of Hickam Air Field and adjacent to Pearl Harbor. Annie’s Purple Heart citation read, in part, that she “… worked ceaselessly with coolness and efficiency and her fine example of calmness, courage, and leadership was of great benefit to the morale of all with whom she came in contact.” Not to mention the fact that she saved many lives and performed her duties while under fire on December 7, 1941.
The first man to earn a Purple Heart was General Douglas MacArthur, who’s been played by actors such as Gregory Peck, Liam Neeson, Tommy Lee Jones, and Laurence Olivier, to name a few. How many books have been written about General Douglas MacArthur? I don’t have room to list them all. Suffice it to say there are several articles listing the 10 best books about him. How many books have been written about Annie Fox? One. And it won’t be published until 82 years after the incident occurred for which she’d earned her Purple Heart. Why did it take so long? Because we don’t measure or appreciate women’s bravery and sacrifice the same way we do men’s, even under similar circumstances.
Both Lieutenant Fox and General MacArthur served during World Wars I and II, and both did a tour of duty in the Philippines. General MacArthur retired in 1937 but in 1941, at the age of 61, he was recalled and the next year was given command of the allied forces in the Southwest Pacific. In 1941, at the age of 47, Lieutenant Fox was informally – and not at her own request – retired to “paradise” with a posting at Hickam Hospital on the island of Oahu. Soon, MacArthur and Fox would be the first of their gender to receive a Purple Heart.
When the rules for earning a Purple Heart changed in 1942, Lieutenant Annie Fox’s medal was rescinded and replaced with a Bronze Star because she hadn’t died or been injured. General MacArthur hadn’t sustained an injury nor had he died, but he kept his Purple Heart. He even had #1 engraved on it. Annie never spoke of her Purple Heart or her Bronze Star. As far as I can tell, she never spoke publicly about her service or her extraordinary actions on December 7, 1941. Perhaps because she didn’t believe she’d done anything heroic. Perhaps because she believed she’d only done her duty.
Women often go unnoticed for doing their duty. How many stories have gone untold because no one noticed and women didn’t speak up for themselves? There is a wonderful book titled The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line; Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II that was written by Major General Mari K. Eder, US Army (Ret.). Her book is full of stories about heroic women, many who I’d never heard of before. Because after the war, most of these women married and raised children, disappearing into their everyday lives. Which brings us back to the heroics of everyday life.
I could make an argument that any woman who works a full-time job – or more than one part-time job – and raises a family at the same time is heroic because it takes sacrifice and courage, especially for the women on their own. But some jobs deserve special mention. Nurses who worked during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, holding strangers’ hands while they died. Teachers who must also be psychologists and social workers in school systems that regularly hold active-shooter drills. Flight attendants who must deal with increasingly hostile passengers. These professions require women willing to step up to any challenge that comes their way because they’re responsible for their patients, students, or passengers. Yet most of us think of them as caretakers more than anything else.
Historically, caretaking is what women have done. At least, that’s what we’ve been led to believe. We’ve also been taught that women including Joan of Arc, Clara Barton, Marie Curie, Rosa Parks, Sally Ride, Harriet Tubman, and Malala Yousafzai are exceptions to the rule. But I believe there are many more female heroes whose stories haven’t been told. Perhaps, like Annie, they wouldn’t toot their own horn because it didn’t dawn on them to do so. Or maybe because no matter what a woman achieves or endures, she’s rarely given genuine hero status.
Let’s change that. Even if it’s one book at a time.
An excellent point. HIStory as it’s taught is too often the story of heroic white guys, while too often ignoring the unsung heroes who actually built our civilization and did the work.