Remembering Jewish Women's Stories on Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day and each year we at the Jewish Women's Archive look back on the long history of Jewish women trailblazers in the military. Last year I wrote a blog post about this legacy, highlighting the launch of our "Jewish American Women and WWII" collection on Flickr Commons. "Jewish American Women and WWII" is an ongoing collecting project that documents the experiences of Jewish American women during the Second World War. Just last month, Indicommons celebrated our "Commonsversary" on their blog. 

Many of the photos came from the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford (JHSGH), who produced the documentary film Pride, Honor and Courage: Jewish Women Remember World War II, about the Jewish women of WWII in their community. The film was the result of a collaboration between JWA and JHSGH that began when Executive Director Estelle Kafer consulted Jayne Guberman, then the Oral History Director at JWA.  As we explain in this blog post, JWA was planning an oral history project to collect the stories of American Jewish women who had served in the military, and Greater Hartford became a pilot project. 

I wanted to revisit the story of Amy Sheridan, the first American Jewish woman pilot in the U.S. Army. We had the pleasure -- and I am serious when I say it was a pleasure -- of meeting her in December of 2009, learning her story, and sharing it with you through a blog post and video clips, like the one below.

I hope you will revisit her story on this day of rememberence and commemoration, and honor the service and legacy of American Jewish women veterans over the last 150 years.