Memorial Day 2020 will be next Monday, 5-25

[Tidewater]

I was curious as to the numbers for the Second World War.
How many served:

Year	Army	Navy	Marines	Coast Guard	Total
1939	189,839	125,202	19,432		334,473
1940	269,023	160,997	28,345		458,365
1941	1,462,315	284,427	54,359		1,801,101
1942	3,075,608	640,570	142,613	56,716*	3,915,507
1943	6,994,472	1,741,750	308,523	151,167	9,195,912
1944	7,994,750	2,981,365	475,604	171,749	11,623,468
1945	8,267,958	3,380,817	474,680	85,783	12,209,238

How many died or were wounded:


US MILITARY CASUALTIES IN WORLD WAR II

Branch	Killed	Wounded
Army and Air Force	318,274	565,861
Navy	62,614	37,778
Marines	24,511	68,207
Coast Guard	1,917	Unknown
TOTAL	407,316	671,278

And the Merchant Marine:

MERCHANT MARINE CASUALTIES

Died as POWs	37
Dead	5,662
Missing/Presumed Dead	4,780
Killed at Sea	845

A couple of thoughts:

1. The Army was by far the largest service and had by far the greatest number of casualties. The number of KIA was surprisingly close to the number of WIA. Today, there is a huge difference between the two. Guys that in WW II would have died, today survive (even though many are horribly maimed). In WW II, they just died on the battlefield.
2. More sailors were killed than wounded. I guess when your ship goes down, she takes a lot of the sailors with her.
3. I am surprised at how low the casualties are for the merchant marine. The U.S. lost a lot of ships 1941-45, and that normally meant the crew had to be abandoned so the convoy could continue on.

 

[Crimson1967]

Unfortunately, Memorial Day is seen as the official kickoff for summer instead of remembering what it is about. It might be better if it was in November and Veterans Day was in May.

 

[B1GTide]

Unfortunately, Memorial Day is seen as the official kickoff for summer instead of remembering what it is about. It might be better if it was in November and Veterans Day was in May.

Those who care know, and those who do not care would not care any more in November.

 

[Tidewater]

Those who care know, and those who do not care would not care any more in November.

Sadly true.

 

[Bazza]

This aerial gunner was one of the only US aviators to be buried at sea inside his aircraft
Only once in the history of the U.S. Navy was an aviator buried at sea inside his airplane. Loyce Edward Deen was so shot up by Japanese anti-aircraft fire, his shipmates decided to keep him forever in his TBM Avenger as they bid him fair winds and following seas.

Deen joined the Navy in 1942, less than a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His first combat duty station was on the USS Essex. He was injured in the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf but instead of recovering on a hospital ship, he opted to stay with his crew, pilot Lt. Robert Cosgrove and radioman Digby Denzek.
(more at linked article)


Cosgrove, Denzek, and Deen.

Video:
His personal affects were recovered from his body. His fingerprints were taken. Funeral detail was called for all available hands to muster on the fantail of the flight deck. A shroud was wrapped around Deen. The ships captain said a few words and the coffin with Deen at his duty station is rolled off the deck as a bugler played taps. At around the fifty second mark of the video is Lt Cosgrove in flight suit, zipper open mid way with his hands behind his back. Lieutenant Cosgrove received the Navy Cross, three Distinguished Flying Crosses and eight Air Medals. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in 2005. AMM2C's Deen's family received his posthumous Purple Heart and Air Medal. Remember them as we bear witness to the courage of all those who face danger to maintain our freedom.

 

[GrayTide]

A little late, but still relevant.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Weird architecture fact about the wall. It was a design charratte (design competition with a one day deadline). The person that won was a student and their professor gave them a C. I have seen the original sketches, they are pretty simple and not that great. The project won because of concept and not based on the drawing ability.

 

[Tidewater]

A little late, but still relevant.
View attachment 17178

My battalion, 2nd Battalion, 327th U.S. Infantry, went to Vietnam in 1965 and came home in 1972. (Full disclosure I did not deploy with 2-327 INF. I was 2½ years old). The battalion stayed seven years, but individual soldiers would rotate in and out over those years. Trickle-feeding replacements one man at a time was one of the most pernicious personnel policies I have ever heard of. It was almost designed to destroy unit cohesiveness.