Americans do not allow Deaf people to join the army unless they do civilian based jobs but that hasn’t always stopped Deaf people from joining the army.
Thanks to Tom Harrington’s submission to the Library at Galladuet back in 2002, there is a list of fourteen Soldiers that had fought in the Civil War in America.
John Gross Barnard was a Major-General in the Civil War
William Meade Berkeley fought for the Confdereate side.
John Blount was in the Union Army (state militia from Kentucky)
William Martin Chamberlain fought in the Union Army until he was discharged. They had released him when they found out he was Deaf.
Those are only a few people that deserve our remembrance and honor. There are some people like Keith Nolan are fighting to gain the right to serve in the Army. Nolan was a top performer in the ROTC program at CSUN. While he gained respect of his instructors, he still did not gain the ability to go on into the Army.
“There are a plethora of various non-combat jobs accessible to the deaf: intelligence, computer technology, map drawing, supply,” Nolan says.(WJLA)
While this weekend is all about honoring soliders, it is an excellent time to remember that people from this community are not allowed to be part of the program.