Transcript All About Veterans & Veteran’s Day

All About Veterans &
Veteran’s Day
History of Veterans Day
World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially
ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28,
1919,in France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier
when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities,
between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on
the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as
the end of “the war to end all wars.”
In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11
as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following
words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will
be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in
the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both
because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of
the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy
with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"
An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made
the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—
Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I,
but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of
soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American
forces had fought in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans
service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word
"Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of
this legislation on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor
American veterans of all wars.
Later that year, on October 8th, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued
the first "Veterans Day Proclamation" which stated: "In order to insure
proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all
veterans' organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in
the common purpose. Toward this end, I am designating the
Administrator of Veterans' Affairs as Chairman of a Veterans Day National
Committee, which shall include such other persons as the Chairman may
select, and which will coordinate at the national level necessary planning
for the observance. I am also requesting the heads of all departments
and agencies of the Executive branch of the Government to assist the
National Committee in every way possible.“
The Uniform Holiday Bill (Public Law 90-363 (82 Stat. 250)) was signed on
June 28, 1968, and was intended to ensure three-day weekends for Federal
employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington's
Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. It was thought
that these extended weekends would encourage travel, recreational and
cultural activities and stimulate greater industrial and commercial
production. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to
celebrate the holidays on their original dates.
1.Germans were the first to use flamethrowers in WWI. Their
flamethrowers could fire jets of flame as far as 130 feet (40 m).
2.More than 65 million men from 30 countries fought in WWI. Nearly 10
million died. The Allies (The Entente Powers) lost about 6 million
soldiers. The Central Powers lost about 4 million.
3.There were over 35 million civilian and soldier casualties in WWI. Over
15 million died and 20 million were wounded.
4.Nearly 2/3 of military deaths in WWI were in battle. In previous
conflicts, most deaths were due to disease.
5.During WWI, the Spanish flu caused about 1/3 of total military deaths.
6.Russia mobilized 12 million troops during WWI, making it the largest
army in the war. More than 3/4 were killed, wounded, or went missing in
action.
7.In August 1914, German troops shot and killed 150 civilians at
Aerschot. The killing was part of war policy known as Schrecklichkeit
(“frightfulness”). Its purpose was to terrify civilians in occupied areas so
that they would not rebel.
8.During WWI, British tanks were initially categorized into “males” and
“females.” Male tanks had cannons, while females had heavy machine
guns.
9.“Little Willie” was the first prototype tank in WWI. Built in 1915, it
carried a crew of three and could travel as fast as 3 mph (4.8 km/h).c
Artillery barrage Artillery barrage could be heard for hundreds of miles
10.Artillery barrage and mines created immense noise. In 1917,
explosives blowing up beneath the German lines on Messines Ridge at
Ypres in Belgium could be heard in London 140 miles (220 km) away.
11.The Pool of Peace is a 40-ft (12-m) deep lake near Messines, Belgium. It fills
a crater made in 1917 when the British detonated a mine containing 45 tons of
explosives.
12.During WWI, dogs were used as messengers and carried orders to the front
lines in capsules attached to their bodies. Dogs were also used to lay down
telegraph wires.
13.Big Bertha was a 48-ton howitzer used by the Germans in WWI. It was
named after the wife of its designer Gustav Krupp. It could fire a 2,050-lb
(930-kg) shell a distance of 9.3 miles (15 km). However, it took a crew of 200
men six hours or more to assemble. Germany had 13 of these huge guns or
“wonder weapons.”
landship Tanks were first used during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (1916)
14.Tanks were initially called “landships.” However, in an attempt to disguise
them as water storage tanks rather than as weapons, the British decided to
code name them “tanks.”
15.The most successful fighter of the entire war was Rittmeister von Richthofen
(1892-1918). He shot down 80 planes, more than any other WWI pilot. He died
after being shot down near Amiens. France's René Fonck (1894-1953) was the
Allies’ most successful fighter pilot, shooting down 75 enemy planes.
16.Margaretha Zelle (1876-1917), also known as Mata Hari, was accused of being a
double agent. Though she always denied being a spy, the French executed her in 1917.
17.French Second Lieutenant Alfred Joubaire wrote in his diary about WWI just before
he died that “Humanity is mad! It must be mad to do what it is doing. What a
massacre. What scenes of horror and carnage! I cannot find words to translate my
impressions
18.Some Americans disagreed with the United States’ initial refusal to enter WWI and
so they joined the French Foreign Legion or the British or Canadian army. A group of
U.S. pilots formed the Lafayette Escadrille, which was part of the French air force and
became one of the top fighting units on the Western Front.
19.In early 1917, British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign
Secretary Arthur Zimmermann to Germany's minister in Mexico. The telegraph
encouraged Mexico to invade U.S. territory. The British kept it a secret from the U.S.
for more than a month. They wanted to show it to the U.S. at the right time to help
draw the U.S into the war on their side.
20.Woodrow Wilson’s campaign slogan for his second term was “He kept us out of war.“
About a month after he took office, the United States declared war on Germany on
April 6th 1917.
21.To increase the size of the U.S. Army during WWI, Congress passed the Selective
Service Act, which was also known as the conscription or draft, in May 1917. By the
end of the war, 2.7 million men were drafted. Another 1.3 million volunteered.
22.During WWI, people of German heritage were suspect in the U.S. Some protests
against Germans were violent, including the burning of German books, the killing of
German shepherd dogs, and even the murder of one German-American.
23. “Victory Gardens” were also called “War Gardens”
24.Herbert Hoover, who would become president in 1929, was appointed U.S. Food
Administrator. His job was to provide food to the U.S. army and its allies. He
encouraged people to plant “Victory Gardens,” or personal gardens. More than 20
million Americans planted their own gardens, and food consumption in the U.S
decreased by 15%.
25.The total cost of WWI for the U.S. was more than $30 billion.
26.The term “dogfight” originated during WWI. The pilot had to turn off the plane’s
engine from time to time so it would not stall when the plane turned quickly in the air.
When a pilot restarted his engine midair, it sounded like dogs barking.
The war left thousands of soldiers disfigured
and disabled. Reconstructive surgery was
used to repair facial damage, but masks were
also used to cover the most horrific
disfigurement. Some soldiers stayed in nursing
homes their entire lives
World War 2
1.World War II was the most destructive conflict in history. It cost more
money, damaged more property, killed more people, and caused more
far-reaching changes than any other war in history.
2.The country with the largest number of WWII causalities was Russia,
with over 21 million.
3.For every five German soldiers who died in WWII, four of them died
on the Eastern Front.
4.It is estimated that 1.5 million children died during the Holocaust.
Approximately 1.2 million of them were Jewish and tens of thousands
were Gypsies.
5.Eighty percent of Soviet males born in 1923 didn’t survive WWII.
6.Between 1939 and 1945, the Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bombs, which averaged to
27,700 tons per month.
7.Russia and the Red Army were accused of several war crimes.
8.Many historians believe that the Battle at Stalingrad (1942-1943) is not only arguably the
bloodiest battle in history (800,000-1,600,000 casualties), but also the turning point of
WWII in Europe.
Bergen Belsen camp Many severely ill concentration camp prisoners died after liberation
9.Even after the Allies arrived, many concentration camp prisoners were beyond help. In
Bergen-Belsen, for example, 13,000 prisoners died after liberation. Nearly 2,500 of the
33,000 survivors of Dachau died within six weeks of liberation.i
10.Max Heiliger was the fictitious name the SS used to establish a bank account in which
they deposited money, gold, and jewels taken from European Jews.
11. The longest battle of WWII was the Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted from 19391945.
12.The original abbreviation of the National Socialist Party was Nasos. The word “Nazi”
derives from a Bavarian word that means “simple minded” and was first used as a term
of derision by journalist Konrad Heiden (1901-1966).
13.The swastika is an ancient religious symbol. It derives from the Sanskrit name for a
hooked cross, which was used by ancient civilizations as a symbol of fertility and good
fortune. It has been found in the ruins of Greece, Egypt, China, India, and Hindu
temples.
14.In 1935, British engineer Robert Watson-Watt was working on a “death ray” that
would destroy enemy aircraft using radio waves. His “death ray” instead evolved into
radar—or “radio detection and ranging.”
15.Out of the 40,000 men who served on U-boats during WWII, only 10,000 returned.
16.Survivors of both atomic bombings in Japan are called niju hibakusha, which literally
means “explosion-affected people.”
17.Approximately 600,000 Jews served in the United States armed forces during WWII. More
than 35,000 were killed, wounded, captured, or missing. Approximately 8,000 died in combat.
However, only two Jewish soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor in WWII.
18.The Battle of the Bulge is the largest and deadliest battle for U.S. troops to date, with
more than 80,000 American deaths.
19.The Enola Gay became well known for dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, but
few people know the name of the B-29 that bombed Nagasaki. It was Bock’s Car, named after
the plane’s usual commander, Frederick Bock.
20.More Russians (military and civilians) lost their lives during the Siege of Leningrad than did
American and British soldiers combined in all of WWII.
21.The Nazis murdered approximately 12 million people, nearly 6 million of those
being Jews killed in the Holocaust (“whole burnt”).
22.During WWII, the Japanese launched 9,000 “wind ship weapons” of paper and
rubberized-silk balloons that carried incendiary and anti-personnel bombs to the
U.S. More than 1,000 balloons hit their targets and they reached as far east as
Michigan. The only deaths resulting from a balloon bomb were six Americans
(including five children and a pregnant woman) on a picnic in Oregon.
23.The Japanese Kamikaze (“divine wind”) tactic was suggested on October 19,
1944, by Vice-Admiral Onishi in an attempt to balance the technological advantage
of invading American forces. Though the numbers are disputed, approximately
2,800 kamikaze pilots died. They sunk 34 U.S. ships, damaged 368, killed 4,900
sailors, and wounded 4,800.
24.Many Jews were subject to gruesome medical experiments.
25.In addition to Jews and gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses were also persecuted and
murdered in German concentration camps.
1.World War II
Causalities by
Country
Country
Military Deaths Civilian Deaths
Total
USSR
13,600,000
7,700,000
21,300,000
China
1,324,000
10,000,000
11,324,000
Germany
3,250,000
3,810,000
7,060,000
Poland
850,000
6,000,000
6,850,000
United States
500,000
0
500,000
Italy
330,000
80,000
410,000
Great Britain
326,000
62,000
388,000
1.Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
Atomic Bomb
Casualties
City
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
Casualties
90,000-166,000
60,000-80,000
Area Destroyed Weapon
4.7 sq miles
Little Boy 15 kT
(15,000 tons of
TNT)
1.8 sq miles
Fat Man 21 kT
(21,000 tons of
TNT)
1.Jewish Casualties
of the Holocaust
Country
Estimated Number of
Percent of the Jewish
Jews Killed in the
Population
Holocaust
Austria
50,000
36
Lithuania
220,000
94
Netherlands
106,000
76
80,000
1.89
*These numbers are
estimates and vary
according to source
Bohemia / Moravia
Benefits of being a United States Veteran
Protect the ones you love
Have a discount on purchasing a home
Have help with funeral expenses
Get a military “pension” (death pension goes to family members if
you die in duty)
Get help with counseling services (PTSD)
Help with educational expenses
The End!