174,000 service personnel. Barely the nineteenth largest army in the world. An army smaller than that of Portugal. This was an unprepared American military on the eve of World War II. However, after Pearl Harbor and its “day of infamy,” Americans answered the call, and by the end of the war eleven million had served in uniform.
Memorial Day’s first official observation was May 5, 1868 following the Civil War. This Memorial Day we remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in a war that claimed over 400,000 American deaths. It is appropriate to do so on the 75th anniversary of the end of WW II. Victory in Europe day, May 8th; victory over Japan on August 15th.
Resounding through the halls of history are the names of battles that defined the American resolve to preserve our democracy and its fragile freedoms from the onslaught of tyrannical regimes. In North Africa: Tunisia, El Guettar, In Italy: Salerno, San Pietro, Monte Cassino. In Western Europe: D Day, St. Lo., the Battle of the Bulge. In the Pacific theater: Guadalcanal, Midway, Iwo Jima, Bougainville, Okinawa.
My father, Robert G. Matte, was badly wounded in the Battle of the Bulge; my father-in-law, Robert F. Lindsay, suffered serious wounds on Okinawa. Both eventually recovered and resumed military careers. Lest we forget the level of sacrifice, more than four hundred military women lost their lives during the war.
The average age of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen during WW II was twenty-six. They came from every ethnic and societal class. The American melting pot gone to war. In many combat units the age was between eighteen and twenty. Fresh recruits thrown into the hell of battle. Young men who grew up fast in a war they didn’t seek but one they couldn’t avoid. They did their duty, to fight for each other, for their country and for those back home.
Those on the home front made significant personal sacrifices to contribute to the war effort. Five million women worked in defense plants and factories and collectively became known as Rosie the Riveter. Millions of men supported the war working in industry and agriculture. No one went untouched by a conflict that threatened to consume the world.
There were great celebrations on VE day and VJ day in hopes that the major sacrifices made would lead to lasting peace in the world. Unfortunately, we know this not to be the case. Again and again Americans have still been called to arms to support the many freedoms we so deeply cherish, even at a steep personal cost. A remembrance of this cost is a gold star emblem, exhibited in the window of a home, indicating that a loved one has made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of this country.
In Washington, D.C, there are many monuments. Near the Washington and Lincoln memorials is a newer memorial dedicated to those who fought in WW II, remembered as “The Greatest Generation.” These words inscribed at the entrance of the memorial speak to them eternally.
HERE IN THE PRESENCE OF WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN,
ONE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FATHER AND THE OTHER THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY PRESERVER OF OUR NATION, WE HONOR
THOSE TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICANS WHO TOOK UP THE STRUGGLE
DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND MADE THE SACRIFICES TO
PERPETUATE THE GIFT OUR FOREFATHERS ENTRUSTED TO US:
A NATION CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY AND JUSTICE.