Loretta Perfectus Walsh

Chief Yeoman, United States Navy

Loretta Perfectus Walsh (April 22, 1896 – August 6, 1925) became the first American active-duty Navy woman, the first woman to enlist in the U.S.

Navy, and the first woman allowed to serve as a woman in any of the United States armed forces, when she enlisted as a sailor in the U.S.

Naval Reserve on March 17, 1917.Walsh subsequently became the first woman U.S.Navy petty officer when she was sworn in as Chief Yeoman on March 21, 1917.