Memorial Day is set aside to honor the 1.2 million Americans who died fighting for this country. About half of those soldiers died in combat. The other half died from accidents, disease and other wartime hazards.
Sixty million people died in World War II. That number is so staggering one simply cannot comprehend it. Half were civilians. The United States got off light, only 416,000 soldiers died. Still, a staggering number.
For every soldier who died during wartime, 50 served and lived. We honor them on Veterans Day in November.
By far, two wars contributed the most U. S. deaths: The Civil War and WWII. Those two wars produced 90 percent of the U. S. war time fatalities. For every fatality, the U. S. suffered an additional wounded soldier. The Vietnam War cost the lives of 55,000 U. S. soldiers and the Korean War cost 50,000 lives. It's staggering to comprehend.
Since the founding of our country, there have been about 500 million Americans. So every soldier that died gave 500 Americans a chance to live in freedom. That’s worth remembering.
With a professional military and no major wars in two generations, it’s easy to forget the huge cost in lives to maintain the freedom that Americans enjoy. The American military is the greatest force in the history of the world. Unbelievably, we take it for granted. They not only protect the United States. They protect the entire world.
Imagine: The greatest military force in the history of the world, but instead of conquest, they fight for peace, freedom and liberty. It boggles the imagination.
Mississippians have seen more real action than any other state. Almost every single member of Mississippi’s National Guard has seen a tour of duty over the last 10 years.
Who in America feels threatened by our military? Very few. Because our powerful military is committed down to every last soldier to defend freedom and liberty, not attack it. There is a strict prohibition in the American military from getting involved in civilian political affairs.
Competency? This is one area of the government that works. They do things right. The American military is so dominant that no one in the world would consider challenging it. Not because they don’t want to, but because they know they cannot succeed. We need to keep it this way.
Threats abound and always will. Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine is evidence of that. Ukrainians have gotten a taste of Western freedom and they don't want to go back to being Russian slaves. The ferocity of their soldiers is a testament to that. Now that NATO and the U. S. are firmly backing Ukraine, the incompetence of the Russian kleptocracy will continue to be exposed. The U. S. and European economies combined are 30 times bigger than Russian. And as the South knows, economic power ultimately prevails in war.
The rise of fanatical Muslim groups led to Americans military engagement in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Arab countries, leading to thousands of deaths. After the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, American leaders decided to nip this in the bud. Historians will debate whether this was the appropriate policy, but the Muslim threat is now greatly reduced.
North Korea’s hideous dictator Kim Jong-un continues to threaten a nuclear missile attack. However, his communist country is so poor and weak economically, it's hard to imagine that threat becoming real. Let's hope U. S. technology and economic prowess can build missile defense systems capable of deterring such an attack.
China is threatening the free forces of Japan, the Philippines and the United States in the South China Sea. They have a powerful economy and a horrible one-party dictatorship for a government. Our hopes to befriend them through trade have failed and we need to reduce our trade with this undemocratic country.
War has changed since World War II, which killed an unfathomable sixty million people, three percent of the total population of the world. Half died in battle, half to famine and disease.
Now we have weapons of mass destruction, 15 times more powerful than the ones detonated to end World War II. One hydrogen bomb dropped on a big city would kill millions instantly and millions later. So far, that hasn’t happened. We pray to God it never happens. In the meantime, these terrible weapons have prevented the recurrence of another world war. There are no winners in a nuclear holocaust. Mutually assured destruction makes war intolerable to all sane countries. But what about the insane like Kim Jong Un or ISIS? This is one of the great fears of the nuclear age.
If ever a war was a battle between good and evil, the last major war was. Can you imagine if Hitler had been victorious? What would the world be like? To think the Germans were just a few years from developing the atomic bomb.
We live by the providence of God. Given the stupidity and sinfulness of man, there is no other rational explanation. We can take comfort that all these men who died in battle were in the hands of a merciful Lord.
