Watch Unsung Heroes: The Story of America’s Female Patriots on PBS stations Thursday May 29 at 7-9 p.m. Mountain time.

More women serve in the armed forces than at any other time in our nation’s history. This courageous heritage can be traced back to the Revolution where women like Molly Pitcher and Sarah Shattuck donned men’s clothes and took up arms against the British. And though none had the right to vote, hundreds of women participated in the Civil War as nurses, spies, and soldiers.

At the heart of this two-part, two-hour documentary are 19 firsthand accounts of the women who lived the story. Meet Ann Dunwoody, General, U.S. Army (ret), the first woman to serve as a four-star general, and Michelle Howard, Admiral U.S. Navy, the first female Navy four-star admiral.

This documentary honors these women whose service has been heroic; their sacrifices profound and their enormous accomplishments largely ignored.