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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: 58th Armored Infantry Battalion, 8th Armored Division, 9th Army
  • Location of Service: Fort Benning, Georgia; Camp Polk, Louisiana; Tidworth Barracks, England; Normandy, France; Roermond, Netherlands; Germany; Czechoslovakia
  • Highest Rank: Private First Class

View full service history

"I was going to do…what I could to see to it that gay people here in Washington got a square deal." (Video interview, 45:25)

After serving with the 58th Armored Infantry Battalion in the European Theater during World War II, Private First Class Franklin E. Kameny returned home to pursue a doctorate in astronomy. Though no longer part of the military, he chose to serve his country through civil service, and was hired by the Army Map Service—and subsequently fired for being gay. Not only did he fight his own landmark legal battle, but also he became a de facto paralegal, helping civil servants challenge discriminatory rulings, and sitting on the DC draft board in order to protect the rights of gay draftees. The founder of the Mattachine Society of Washington, he is considered one of the founding fathers of the gay rights movement. In addition to his Veterans History Project collection, the Library of Congress holds his vast collection of papers: http://rs5.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2009/ms009068.pdf.

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About this Item

Title

  • Franklin E. Kameny Collection

Names

  • American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER)
  • Ballard, Lara
  • Kameny, Franklin E.
  • Westbrook, Joel

State of Birth

  • NY

Home State

  • DC

Headings

  • -  Kameny, Franklin E.
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: 58th Armored Infantry Battalion, 8th Armored Division, 9th Army
    • Location of Service: Fort Benning, Georgia; Camp Polk, Louisiana; Tidworth Barracks, England; Normandy, France; Roermond, Netherlands; Germany; Czechoslovakia
    • Highest Rank: Private First Class
    • Dates of Service: 1943-1946
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: MiniDV [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 01/08/2003)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of video recording (collected 02/2003)
  • Photograph: Photocopy of Photographic Print [9 items] -- Photograph (collected unknown)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/5208

Cite as

  • Franklin E. Kameny Collection (AFC/2001/001/5208), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • online text
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

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, Lara Ballard, Franklin E Kameny, and Joel Westbrook. Franklin E. Kameny Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.05208/.

APA citation style:

American Veterans For Equal Rights, Ballard, L., Kameny, F. E. & Westbrook, J. (1943) Franklin E. Kameny Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.05208/.

MLA citation style:

American Veterans For Equal Rights, et al. Franklin E. Kameny Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.05208/>.