Ecaterina Teodoroiu (15th January 1894 – 22nd August 1917) was a heroine in Romanian history for her acts of bravery and patriotism during the First World War and for the sacrifice she made for her country. Romania had entered the First World War on the allied side from 1916 until 1917.
Ecaterina was born in Romania to a poor family and had always focused on her studying. Before Romania entered WWI, Ecaterina moved to Bucharest to be a teacher, where she was also helping to establish the first Scout‚Äôs organisation in Romania. When war was declared, like many women, she felt the desire to help as a nurse as all four of her brothers had joined the fighting. She was attached to one of her brother’s regiments. However, things took a turn for the worse when all of her brothers were killed in action, something she could not forgive the Germans for; this gave her huge enthusiasm to get to the front line to avenge their deaths. Although at first she was denied this as a woman, she fought for her place on the frontline with the 2nd Division.
On the 2nd October 1916, the battle of Jiu commenced, of which Ecaterina was a part. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well as hoped and she and many of her regiment was taken as prisoners of war. With a bit of luck and the help of a hidden revolver gun she did manage to escape and went straight back into fighting. Ecaterina was wounded when she escaped and then became more severely injured with her continued fighting. But did that stop her? Not at all! When she fully recovered on the 20th August 1917, Ecaterina was attached with the 43/59 Infantry Regiment to help protect her homeland. On the 22nd August during an attack Ecaterina was killed in action.
For her bravery in battle Ecaterina was awarded as a Virtue Scout and was presented the Royal Decree of Military Virtue Class II.