Top of page

Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Cold War
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: 84th Division; 5091st Reception Battalion
  • Location of Service: Fort McClellan, Alabama; Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Fort McCoy and Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/43276

View full service history

"Nobody joins the military for a date." (Audio interview, 15:08)

Though initially she had joined the military hoping to be assigned duty as a chaplain, Miriam Ben-Shalom found her niche as a drill sergeant. The case of Leonard Matlovich, an Airman who outed himself to the military to fight the ban on LGBT servicemembers, spurred her to speak out against the military’s exclusionary policies, eventually resulting in her discharge in 1976. She fought back in court and won the right to re-enlist. In her interview, conducted in 2004, before the repeal of the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy, she asks, "I want to know: when do I get to be an American - whole and complete, same as anybody else?"

Miriam Ben-Shalom Collection
Interview / Recording

Transcript

Loading...

More Resources

View 6 images in sequence.
[ AVER [American Veterans for Equal Rights] newsletter [Nov. 2004] ]

About this Item

Title

  • Miriam Ben-Shalom Collection

Names

  • American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER)
  • Estes, Steve
  • Ben-Shalom, Miriam
  • Ballard, Lara

State of Birth

  • WI

Home State

  • WI

Headings

  • -  Ben-Shalom, Miriam
  • -  Cold War -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Female

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Cold War

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: 84th Division; 5091st Reception Battalion
    • Location of Service: Fort McClellan, Alabama; Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Fort McCoy and Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1974-1990
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran
    • Service History Note: The veteran served in the Army Reserves. She was honorably discharged in 1976 and re-enlisted again in 1988.

Materials

  • Manuscript: Transcript [2 items] -- Typewritten document (collected 11/12/2004)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 11/12/2004)
  • Manuscript: Periodicals [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 2004)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/43276

Cite as

  • Miriam Ben-Shalom Collection (AFC/2001/001/43276), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio
  • online text
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

American Veterans For Equal Rights, Steve Estes, Miriam Ben-Shalom, and Lara Ballard. Miriam Ben-Shalom Collection. 1974. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.43276/.

APA citation style:

American Veterans For Equal Rights, Estes, S., Ben-Shalom, M. & Ballard, L. (1974) Miriam Ben-Shalom Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.43276/.

MLA citation style:

American Veterans For Equal Rights, et al. Miriam Ben-Shalom Collection. 1974. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.43276/>.