It was 86 years ago that the Armistice ended the First World War.
Think about that: an 18 year old Doughboy who went over there to fight in the trenches is, today, about 104 years old. Very few remain alive. Those who survive are today a last fading memory of the Great War. Who will remember them? Who will remember their struggles and sacrifices?
Approximately 126,000 U.S. soldiers lost their lives in the Great War: almost exactly double the number lost in Vietnam, but in a war that, for America, lasted only one year, compared to the Vietnam conflict that lasted through multiple Presidents.
Gruesome as that sounds, the United States got off lucky. Germany lost 1,800,000 souls. Russia another 1,700,000; France, 1,400,000; Austria, 1,300,000; Great Britain, 900,000; Italy, 700,000; Romania and Turkey, 300,000 each. Dozens more nations sent thousands of their best and brightest off to die. All told, nearly 9,000,000 soldiers were killed from 1914 to 1918.
And that's just the military death totals. Civilian casualties, especially in Russia, plagued by its own revolution at the height of the War, may have exceeded another 10,000,000.
Over a million soldiers died during one prolonged battle on the fields of the Sommes.
One battle.
Another 8,000,000 soldiers were severely wounded. Unknown millions, millions, are still MIA from World War I.
The estimated totals for killed, wounded, and missing soldiers and civilians approached 50,000,000 people. Fifty million.
When the Great War ended, the nations of the world vowed to never again allow such devastation.
They failed.
World War II erupted in 1939, slaughtering on a scale even the most cynical veteran of "The War To End All Wars" could never have envisioned.
Again, the United States came in late. Again, the United States suffered horrendous casualties. And again, the United States got off lucky.
The U.S. lost nearly 300,000 troops. Russia lost approximately 11,000,000 soldiers and another 7,000,000 civilians, and that isn't even factoring in the millions more who starved to death as the Nazis cut off supply lines and destroyed farmland in the Russian breadbasket from Moscow to the Ukraine, or who died from disease. Germany lost 3,500,000 soldiers and another million civilians.
The death toll from WWII, including soldiers and civilians killed by the conflict, exceeded 40,000,000. Add in the wounded and the missing, and the numbers exceed 60,000,000. Sixty million.
And that sixty million total for WWII doesn't even include the millions more killed in the Holocaust, the millions purged by Stalin, and the millions more killed during and after the War by Mao. Best estimates for grand total killed, wounded, or missing as a result of the Second World War exceed 100,000,000. One hundred million.
Between the two World Wars, the total dead, wounded, and missing: over 150,000,000. One hundred fifty million. That's more than the population of all but the seven largest nations. That's more than double the number killed by the Black Plague in the 14th Century.
World War II ended almost 60 years ago. The younger veterans of that war are entering their 80's. Veterans of WWII are passing by the thousands. Will we remember them?
After the two World Wars, America found herself fighting again in Korea and Vietnam. Approximately 100,000 U.S. soldiers perished between these two conflicts. Our enemies lost another 10,000,000, mostly civilians. Ten million. That's more than the population of most U.S. States. That's more people than have died from AIDS. Did we learn nothing from two World Wars?
Now that you are sickened beyond belief, I want to you think about our current war, the War on Terror. The World Wars are paired together by history, as consecutive conflicts over the control of Europe. Korea and Vietnam are similarly paired together, as consecutive conflicts over the suppression of Communist forces in Asia. Although the anti-war left fails to grasp this truth, the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War will also be paired together by history, as two consecutive fronts in the larger War on Terror. How does our current conflict measure up?
Since taking action after the attack of September 11, 2001, the U.S. military has suffered approximately 2,000 losses in the combined actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Every death is a tragedy.
But let's have a little perspective.
More innocent civilians were killed in one hour on September 11 than all the U.S. soldiers killed in action since then. More members of our Armed Forces were killed during the one-hour attack on Pearl Harbor. We have lost approximately one-fiftieth as many troops in Afghanistan and Iraq as lost in Korea and Vietnam; approximately one-two-hundred-fitieth the losses from World Wars I and II.
And what about the civilians?
The civilian casualties, the "collateral damage" of the two World Wars were measured in tens of millions. Millions more were killed in Korea and Vietnam. In Afghanistan and Iraq, civilian casualties are being measured in thousands. The only thing being measured in tens of millions is the number of people no longer living under despotic fundamentalist regimes. So far, the freedom count is up to about 50,000,000. Fifty million. A number approximating the total number of killed, wounded, and missing from World War I, a number greater than the wartime death total of World War II, 50,000,000 people in Afghanistan and Iraq now live in freedom.
American casualties are approximately 2,000.
We have redefined warfare.
What the League of Nations failed to do after World War I, what the United Nations failed to do after World War II, America is doing now in the War on Terror.
So today, Veterans' Day, remember the Soldier, the Sailor, the Airman, the Marine, who give so much, to so many, for so little in return. And thank them. And also thank the visionaries in our Defense Department, who have succeeded where 80 years of pacifism have failed in liberating the oppressed with minimal loss of life.
May we, finally, see an end to multi-million death tolls on the fields of war.
I can't think of a better way to hold the Spirit of Veteran's Day.
thank you
Posted by: niloniak | Thursday, 11 November 2004 at 11:22 AM
Well, said, FSIL! And for your own service to our great nation, I say "thank you" to *you*.
Posted by: FMIL | Thursday, 11 November 2004 at 06:28 PM
As you know, today is a wonderful holiday that expresses our gratitude for our nation's living and lost veterans. I have learned on this day that a family I grew up with, played on a bowling league with and live nearby, has lost their only son at 11am Wednesday in the push on Fallujah. My only hope it that his memory is not forgotten and that his family knows that he went out voluntarily, knowing full well that he might not return and ended up having to give the ultimate sacrifice, his own life. I hope that they do not turn out to be a family that turns its back on its leaders due to their loss. I hope that it strengthens their resolve to finish what this country began. It really puts the war into perspective when the numbers of dead are now having faces and names that I recognize and making me feel guilty for not staying in longer. But then I look at my two little girls and tell them about how mommy was a soldier and they think it is the coolest thing. I was honored, as were all our veterans, at their school where the First graders sang 4-5 patriotic songs. I was overcome with love and honor for our great nation and began to shed tears of pride and patriotism. I had no idea that I would be made the laughing stock of the gym. People were actually laughing at me because I was crying. I got upset and yelled out that this community needs to learn patriotism and what it means to love your country...and now, a young man, just barely 20, has given his life. Why it is that some people still do not understand what it means to be patriotic and to love one's country so much that even a single song, God Bless America, will make your heart swell with pride and make you overflow with emotion?
Posted by: Princess | Thursday, 11 November 2004 at 09:05 PM
Wow! Thank you for taking the time to write that Dave.
Incredible....
Posted by: Cliff@Ihop | Friday, 12 November 2004 at 01:44 AM
[Deleted by Gullyborg. Resistance is futile!]
Posted by: rich | Friday, 12 November 2004 at 10:13 AM
Rich, there have not been hundreds of thousands of casualties. You are either misinformed or a liar. And making an "anonymous" post only shows that you have no courage to be held accountable for your accusations. As such, I am deleting your comments forthwith.
For those who are curious, here is a place to see estimated civilian casualties in Iraq, from a decidedly anti-war, anti-Bush website:
http://iraqbodycount.net/
The estimate today, from a negative source, is between 14 and 16 thousand. That's in the low "tens of thousands" range, far from "hundreds of thousands" or even "one hundred thousand." Still too many. Every death is one too many. But far, far less than any major war of the 20th century--a stunning achievement and testament to the vision of our Defense Department.
Posted by: Gullyborg | Friday, 12 November 2004 at 02:18 PM
[rich tried to back up his claim with bogus links, then made snide comments about the administration...not the right place for that, rich, this is a post about the sacrifices and achievements of our armed forces, not a place for you to vent your frustrations about the president]
Posted by: rich | Friday, 12 November 2004 at 03:18 PM
...and, now the "verification" of your "facts" is a dead link. Welcome to my ban list. Congrats. You are the first.
Posted by: Gullyborg | Friday, 12 November 2004 at 03:37 PM
Wow, you know how to clean house, Gully.
Thanks for putting all those horrific stats in one place. My mother grew up in Germany during WWII, and was twelve years old when her city (Chemnitz) took Allied bombing. Entire neighborhoods were incinerated. Pinpoint bombing, fastidious concern for civilian casualties--unimaginable. We really have come a long way.
And thank you, Gully, for your service to our country. Happy belated Veterans Day.
Posted by: Rose Nunez | Saturday, 13 November 2004 at 11:12 AM