Browse Items (15 total)

After serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1978 to 1983, Gianna Fimbres, of Tucson, Arizona, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1987. Trained as a petroleum specialist, Fimbres deployed to Kuwait and Iraq during Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991).…

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…

Bridgette (Smith) Arnold served 24 years in the Air Force mostly supporting Special Operations Forces and national-level intelligence agencies as a counter-terrorism subject matter expert. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Arnold was…

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,…

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,…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…