Since 1775, the United States Military has been deployed hundreds of times throughout the world:
Between;
1775 1799........ 7 times
1800 1899
... 109 times
1900 1999
... 157 times
2000 present
17 times
Our fallen Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen are laid to rest in 130 National Cemeteries and untold number of Private Cemeteries within the Continental United States. Plus we have 24 United States National Cemeteries found in other locations on foreign soil, from major conflicts. [ To remember some; War of Independence, War of 1812, Mexican/American War, American Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Bay of Pigs Invasion, Cuban Missle Crisis, Dominican Intervention, Vietnam War, Grenada, Beirut, Panama, Gulf War, Somalia, Afganistan, and the Iraq War.
It's worth remembering;
When he was in England at a fairly large conference, Retired General Colin Powell was ask by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by President George Bush.
He answered by saying, Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and woman into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.
It became very quiet in the room.
[And yet the world hates us, and our President apologies]
WWI WWI Korean Cold War Southeast
War Asia
Total POW / MIA 7,323 194,879 12,654 124 2,596
POW's returned 3,973 116,129 4,439 0 591
Still Missing and
Unaccounted For 3,350 78,750 8,215 124 2,005
We have had 3,448 persons awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, of which 19 received it twice.
As of this date, 94 of those awarded the medal are still living.
One of, if not, the first National Cemetery was in Washington Square, Philidelphia, Pennsylvania, where on April 13, 1777, John Adams wrote this letter:
I have spent an hour this morning in the Congregation of the dead. I took a walk into the 'Potters Field' {Now Washington Square}, a burying ground between the new stone prison and the hospital, and I never in my life was affected with so much melancholy. The graves of the soldiers, who have been buried, in this ground, from the hospital and bettering house, during the course of last summer, fall, and winter, dead of the small pox and camp diseases, are enough to make the heart of stone to melt away! The sexton told me that upwards of two thousand soldiers had been buried ther, and by the appearance of the grave and trenches, it is most probable to me that he speaks within bounds. To what causes this plaque is to be attributed, I don't know disease had destroyed ten men for us where the sword of the enemy has killed one!By 1778, when the Colonials re-occupied Philadelphia, Washington Square would be the 'last barracks' for the thousands who had died in the Philadelphia area. In 1954 a Memorial to honor both George Washington and an unknown soldier was constructed, with an eternal flame added about two years later.
So on this Veterans Day lets remember those at rest.
Mexico City American National Cemetery [Mexican/American War 1847---
813 laid to rest, plus in a common grave 750 unknown soldiers
American Cemetery and Memorial - Brittany, France...WWI and WWII
4,410 laid to rest
..498 names of missing on Memorial
Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium... WWI
368 laid to rest [the inspiration of the peom]
Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial at Belleau, France
. WWI
14,246 laid to rest
.. 1,060 names of missing in Memorial
American Cemetery and Memorial at Meuse-Argonne, France
.. WWI
14,246 laid to rest
.. 954 names of missing inscribed
Brookwood American Cemetery and Memorial at Brookwood, Surrey, England ...WWI
468 laid to rest
.. 563 names of missing insribed
Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, St. Laurent, France
WWII
9,378 laid to rest
.. 1,557 missing listed on Memorial [mostly from D-Day]
The American Cemetery and Memorial in Ardennes, Belgium
WWII
5,329 laid to rest
American Cemetery and Memorial in the Netherlands
WWII
8,301 laid to rest
.. 1,722 names of missing listed on memorial wall
Cambridge / American Cemetery and Memorial in Cambridge, England
WWII
3,812 laid to rest
.. 5,127 names of missing inscribed
The American Cemetery and Memorial at Florence, Italy ...WWII
4,402 laid to rest
.. 1,409 names of missing inscribed in chapel
North-Africa American Cemetery and Memorial at Carthage, Tunisia
WWII
2,841 laid to rest
.. 3,724 names of missing inscribed
American Cemetery and Memorial, Luxembourg, Luxembourge
5,076 laid to rest
.. 371 names of missing inscribed
And of Course;
Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington County Virginia
Over 300,000 laid to rest
.. including 367 Medal of Honor recipients
