pioneer

One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow.

A person or other entity who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress.

Some people will consider their national heroes to be pioneers of civilization.

Certain politicians can be considered as pioneers of reform.

A soldier detailed or employed to form roads, dig trenches, and make bridges, as an army advances; a sapper.

[King of] Fess. What thinks your greatnes beſt to be atchieu’d In purſuit of the Cities ouerthrow? Bai[azeth]. I wil the captiue Pioners of Argier, Cut off the water, that by leaden pipes Runs to the citie from the mountain Carnon, […]

A member of any of several European organizations advocating abstinence from alcohol.

A member of a children’s organization operated by the Communist Party, typically in the second of three stages toward becoming a member of the Party itself.

To be the first to do or achieve (something), preparing the way for others to follow.

The young doctor pioneered a new life-saving surgical technique.

A person born on or before 31 December 1949 and possessing Singapore citizenship on or before 31 December 1986, given this status and certain benefits to recognise their contributions to Singapore's early development.

Now they are trying hard, working hard, in trying to "give back" […] to the older people classified as "pioneer generations" […]

As someone from the Pioneer Generation, I have experienced much hardship […] from the scourge of water-rationing in the 1960s […]