Browse Items (11 total)

Saleha Jabeen grew up in India and came to the United States in the mid-2000s as an international student to earn an MBA and join the corporate world. Within two years, her outlook changed due to her experiences with prejudice. Financial concerns…

Pratima Dharm, the first Hindu chaplain in the U.S. Army, grew up surrounded by spirituality of all kinds in India. She moved to the United States in 2001 for school. Dharm wanted to become a chaplain which required attending seminary, but Hindu…

Anmol Narang, a child of Sikh immigrants from India, became the first observant Sikh to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point in June 2020. Sikh religious beliefs prohibit shearing hair, so while Sikhs had graduated from West…

Vanessa Guillen, from Houston, Texas, enlisted in the U.S. Army in June 2018 at the age of 18. She trained in small arms and artillery repair and was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. Prior to her April 22, 2020, disappearance, Guillen told friends and…

Emily (Tatum) Perez, one of two children born into a military family, lived much of her youth in Germany. She returned to the United States in 1998, graduating from high school in Maryland in 2001. Realizing her life-long dream of becoming a soldier,…

Debra (Lopez) Fix, from Elgin, Texas, entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1977. In 1981, she became the first Hispanic woman to graduate from the Academy. She went on to serve in several demanding assignments. While serving at…

Not only the first servicewoman killed in action in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Lori Piestewa, of the Hopi tribe, is also the first known American Indian woman killed in combat in the service of the United States. While on convoy in southwestern Iraq,…

Inspired by her father, who served in Korea, and her siblings, Lourdes “Alfie” Alvarado-Ramos long dreamed about serving in the military. She enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1971, at the age of 17, and served for 22 years. Challenged by her gender,…

During the Civil War, Cathay Williams lived enslaved at a plantation near Jefferson City, Missouri. The Union Army camp occupied the city in 1861, captured Cathay and other enslaved people and forced them as “contraband” to serve in support roles.…

Army physical therapist Aida Nancy Sanchez, originally from Santurce, Puerto Rico, served at the 95th Evacuation Hospital near Da Nang, Vietnam, from December 1970 to December 1971. As the first physical therapist assigned to the hospital, she set up…