Veterans Day - Remembering the American Revolution

[The above photos are from the Yorktown Battlefield and nearby museum.]

When we think of Veterans and Veterans Day, it’s rare that we think beyond World War I. There are good reasons for that: Veterans Day started as Armistice Day, to commemorate the November 11, 1918 ending of World War I, and today’s younger generations haven’t known Veterans from wars before then.

Think about which war was being fought in a year ending with the number “6”. The Vietnam War was going on in 1966. But I’d like to take you to an earlier period: 1776 and the American Revolution. Beyond the fact that it is the war that founded this nation, it really had a massive impact on the United States. It spanned eight years from 1775 to 1783. It was fairly large in scale too. Consider the distance from Charleston to Boston is equal to Paris to Warsaw…

The Colonial Army never exceeded 48,000 troops though almost 231,000 served in all. This may seem like a small number, but consider that the entire population of the 13 colonies was about 2.3 million or about three times that of Cobb County. For perspective, the three largest cities were Philadelphia with 40,000 people, New York with 25,000 and Boston with 15,000. Smyrna, Georgia’s population of 55,000 would, in 1776, have made it the largest city in the 13 Colonies. Adjusted for today’s population, it would be as if about 30,000,000 Americans had served in the Colonial Army. Figure that half were women, and we come to the conclusion that 20% of the Colonial men fought in the war. Of those 231,000, let me give you some easy to remember round numbers: 7,000 died, 6,000 wounded, and 20,000 were POWs. Possibly 10,000 died as POWs. The total dead comes to roughly 17,000. Normalized to today’s population, and it would have been 2,800,000 dead. For perspective, the Civil War cost 650,000 dead and World War II cost the US 405,000.[1] The American Revolution was a spectacularly bloody and costly war.

While we have long lost our veterans of the American Revolution, we do have many Vietnam Veterans, veterans of other wars and also of peacetime service. There is so much greatness in this amazing nation of ours. And for protecting this way of life, we have to thank each and every one of us who helps shape our society on a daily basis. But perhaps above all, we have our Veterans. Today we honor them and honor our veterans of the past.

Veterans Day started as a commemoration of Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, the day that World War I ended at 11:00 am. Thus, we do the same today, having our ceremonies on the 11th hour of 11/11. In 1926, Congress resolved that “the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.” In 1938, it became a formal holiday, “dedicated to the cause of world peace.”[2] That’s worth remembering: that on this day, we honor not just our veterans, but perpetuating world peace through the good will and mutual understanding between nations.

We have Veterans all around us. Please take some time to thank them today and anytime you see them. Don’t be shy and don’t wait until it is too late to learn their stories. Their families sacrifice too, by the way. So thank them too.

Narayan Sengupta (info@usaww1.com) of Smyrna is a Rotarian and the proud father of two daughters. Today he will MC Smyrna, Georgia's annual Veterans Day Ceremony at 11:00 am, featuring noted historian Alvin Townley. For more details, please see http://patch.com/georgia/marie....

[1] http://www.campaign1776.org/re...

[2] http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp