Monday is Memorial Day in the USA. Too many in United States don’t know what we are remembering.
In 1917 the US formally joined in what was then called The Great War. Its presence broke the stalemate at a cost of almost 120,000 troops.
Sixty-eight years ago on June 6, 1944 the allied forces landed in Normandy, France. The American forces alone lost more men in the first hour than were lost in the second Gulf War and Afghanistan combined. In February and March of 1945 in the battle for Iwo Jima 36,000 US Marines were killed or captured. In April 1945 the battle for Okinawa over 12,000 Americans would lose their lives to take the island for a launch base if the US chose to invade Japan.
A half dozen years after the end of WWII the Korean War broke out and more than 40,000 Americans lost their lives to keep South Korea free. In the ‘60’s we fought the Viet Nam war to keep South Viet Nam free. Historians now say after the 1968 Tet Offensive the US had militarily won the war but had lost it politically at home.
In 1990 the US led a coalition to free Kuwait and showed Saddam Hussein what the ‘Mother of All Wars” looks like.
There have been other wars and battles in between. But not since the Spanish-American War has this country gone to war to take territory.
World War One could have been ended by the US diplomatically demanding the sides sue for peace.
Prior to D-Day the US could have said “Hitler is ‘contained’” and left Europe in his control and let him slug it out with Stalin.
Before Iwo Jima and Okinawa the US could have said the same about Japan, especially with the knowledge the atomic bomb was nearly ready.
Instead the wars were fought to their conclusions and having learned its lessons from WWI instead of demanding reparations the US instituted the Marshall Plan and paid to rebuild its defeated foes and liberated friends alike.
One can debate the follies of war and the politics that surround them. But I am free to write this thought because of the many that fought for my freedom. And while we have a veterans day here in the US to remember those who fought and survived and Memorial Day is to remember those that fought and died, I’ll choose to remember them all, and pray for them and their loved ones…
Jim
AKA tree
In 1917 the US formally joined in what was then called The Great War. Its presence broke the stalemate at a cost of almost 120,000 troops.
Sixty-eight years ago on June 6, 1944 the allied forces landed in Normandy, France. The American forces alone lost more men in the first hour than were lost in the second Gulf War and Afghanistan combined. In February and March of 1945 in the battle for Iwo Jima 36,000 US Marines were killed or captured. In April 1945 the battle for Okinawa over 12,000 Americans would lose their lives to take the island for a launch base if the US chose to invade Japan.
A half dozen years after the end of WWII the Korean War broke out and more than 40,000 Americans lost their lives to keep South Korea free. In the ‘60’s we fought the Viet Nam war to keep South Viet Nam free. Historians now say after the 1968 Tet Offensive the US had militarily won the war but had lost it politically at home.
In 1990 the US led a coalition to free Kuwait and showed Saddam Hussein what the ‘Mother of All Wars” looks like.
There have been other wars and battles in between. But not since the Spanish-American War has this country gone to war to take territory.
World War One could have been ended by the US diplomatically demanding the sides sue for peace.
Prior to D-Day the US could have said “Hitler is ‘contained’” and left Europe in his control and let him slug it out with Stalin.
Before Iwo Jima and Okinawa the US could have said the same about Japan, especially with the knowledge the atomic bomb was nearly ready.
Instead the wars were fought to their conclusions and having learned its lessons from WWI instead of demanding reparations the US instituted the Marshall Plan and paid to rebuild its defeated foes and liberated friends alike.
One can debate the follies of war and the politics that surround them. But I am free to write this thought because of the many that fought for my freedom. And while we have a veterans day here in the US to remember those who fought and survived and Memorial Day is to remember those that fought and died, I’ll choose to remember them all, and pray for them and their loved ones…
Jim
AKA tree
