Miriam Miller

(1914 - 2001)

Miriam " Mimi" Miller entered military service in 1943 joining the Navy Nurse Corps following her graduation form the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital School of Nursing. Originally assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Station, then onto San Diego Naval Hospital, Miriam eventually made her way overseas in 1945 for a face to face encounter with the brutal human devastation resulting from the battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

Assigned to Fleet Hospital #111 in Guam, Mimi was charged with caring for the heavy casualties of the war in the Pacific. Although mired in the most challenging of circumstances, Mimi nevertheless remembers "the dedication, patriotism and heroism of Americans willing to sacrifice anything for the ideals we hold so dear - liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Miriam's patriotic calling and strong desire to serve in the military did not lessen the apprehension of her parents, however. She recalls that mother and father were against her enlisting, and were also opposed to her becoming a nurse, feeling that "it wasn't the life for a nice Jewish girl."

Mimi's pride in her religion and military service continues to this day. In 1946, she married Dr. Robert Shor, who was elected National Commander of Jewish War Veterans in 1976. Miriam was elected President of the Jewish War Veterans National Ladies Auxiliary in 1961.

Sources: Courtesy of the Jewish Women's Archives and Jewish War Veterans