On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in the First World War, then known as “the Great War.” Commemorated as Armistice Day beginning the following year, November 11th became a legal federal holiday in the United States in 1938. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day, a holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars.
888,246 lives – a cascade of terrible beauty that shocks the eye as it tugs at the heart. The number of Empire soldiers who lost their lives in the “War to End All Wars”. The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was more than 38 million: there were over 17 million deaths and 20 million wounded, one of the deadliest conflicts in human history.
American effort during World War II (1941-1945) saw the greatest mobilization of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force in the nation’s history (more than 16 million people); some 5.7 million more served in the Korean War (1950 to 1953). In 1954, after lobbying efforts by veterans’ service organizations, the 83rd U.S. Congress amended the 1938 act that had made Armistice Day a holiday, striking the word “Armistice” in favor of “Veterans.” President Eisenhower signed the legislation on June 1, 1954. From then on, November 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.
2,594,000 U.S. military personnel were deployed to South Vietnam. 58,220 died, and 303,644 were wounded.
In the Gulf War, otherwise known as Operation Desert Shield, 700,000 U.S. troops served.
It is amazing to read the number of conflicts just in the 20th century, which finished with U.S. involvement in Bosnia and Kosovo.
The 21st century has seen almost constant involvement in the Middle East, first in Afghanistan, then in Iraq.
Here is a comprehensive list of all conflicts in which the United States has been involved:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States
Thank you to all of our veterans, living and dead, for what they have sacrificed for this country.
Many families have sent their young men to war over the years. In my own family, I can name relatives fighting in the Revolutionary War (both sides!), the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
We owe a great debt to the men and women of our military!
Stella's Place 
Just a little sumpin’, sumpin’ for all of you who laid it all out there for the rest of us. Thank you. It’s a bit late for the Marine’s 241st birthday, but I’m sure they got used to things gettin’ to ’em a day late or so.
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Good Lord, Tex! That’s how you do a cake! Almost makes me want some.
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Tell ’em how it’s done, Miss Wee
😎
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I haven’t bothered to reset my word press password but consider this post a like. This is perfect. All it needs is some peanut butter cups…
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For sure!
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Tex, Thank you…..and to All Veterans, My personal Thanks for Serving OUR Great Nation. God Bless You,
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They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
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I love this, but I will always now connect it with Downton Abbey.
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I know what you mean, Stella. Season 2 made WWI more real to me than anything I had read or seen before.
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Definitely. This poem was used in the episode when they dedicated the Downton WWI Memorial. Even though my uncle fought in France, I wasn’t alive then – or even during WWII – so to see it portrayed on television makes it more real.
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I saw the poppies installation at the Tower of London. It was so incredibly moving to see the Tower “bleeding” into what was the moat. I was also emotionally moved hearing some youngish Brit — who looked like a tough punk — proudly telling his visitors about what this all meant. He knew the facts, the sacrifice, and the meaning — there are those that remember.
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The photos are beautiful. It must have been amazing to see it in person.
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Would like to have seen that in person as I have relatives in that poppy field.
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https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=OIP.Maa30d803eba2ee834ec4fd2fd6ac3a84o0&w=300&h=199&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0&r=0
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Thank you God that the traitorous, disingenuous filth that is Barack Obama will never again after today take a step one foot onto the sacred ground of The Tomb of the Unknown soldier. thank you God that Hillary Clinton will never defile that sacred ground under the mantle of POTUS.
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Amen.
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Mom, couldn’t have said that any better!!!!!!!!! Amen
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Basicaly the same thing I’ve said a few times here except, I believe, I also added something about Lysol and bleach.
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Oh yeah….WWI…the War to End All War….howzat workin’ for us?
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Czar, was it Flanders when that British general said; ” if I had another 10,000 men….
..” Britain/France lost a generation in WW1. And some, called our WW1 veterans “The Lost Generation “.
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My uncle was gassed and sent home. He was never the same.
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That was same with my Brit grandfather…he died in March of 1939, just months before WWII would begin.
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My uncle made it a little longer. He died in 1957 or 1958.
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I thonk I’d mentioned before that one grandfather was Brit and gassed in WW I, another was German Pioneer in WWI. Sorta ironic I ended up with a primary Army career field as a Combat Engineer with at one point a secondary as a Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare specialist.
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Only thing that spoils this picture for me is the mourner looks too much like Obama, even though I know this is an impossibility.
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I had the same thought.
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One of the things that gives me hope is that Saul of Tarsus was an “impossibility”.
God could even make Obama weep like that.
I would rather see Obama like that than swinging from a lamp post.
Believe it or not, and as weird as that may sound.
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Makes good sense.
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Weeping…..lamppost…..weeping…..lamppost…….lemme get back to ya on that one.
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My DH retired from the British Royal Navy after 22 years of service. He wears his poppy every year!
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Thank you to your husband Jaqueline!
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