Gen. John A. Logan Gave America Memorial Day. Why He Was Forgotten
Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed on the last Monday in May to honor Americans who died in military service. It began as Decoration Day, a post-Civil War tradition of placing flowers on soldiers’ graves. The man who formalized that tradition into a national observance was Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, a Union commander […]
Racing Time: Oral Historian Travels America to Capture WWII Voices
Chandler Stark’s mission is vital – document as many interviews with World War II veterans as possible while he still can. It’s his way of preserving history and illuminating the stories of a generation of soldiers fading away rapidly. With many approaching or past age 100, the latest data shows only about 45,000 American World […]
He Risked His Life for American Soldiers in Afghanistan. Would America Let Him In?
Barely half an hour had passed since the flight landed at O’Hare International Airport, and the Army combat veteran’s palms were already sweating. Spencer Sullivan, 38, situated himself at the front of a crowd of people waiting near the exit for international arrivals. He knew it could be hours before his friend got through customs. […]
The Oklahoma City Bombing Was 30 Years Ago. Some Survivors Worry America Didn’t Learn the Lesson
OKLAHOMA CITY — Thirty years after a truck bomb detonated outside a federal building in America’s heartland, killing 168 people in the deadliest homegrown attack on U.S. soil, deep scars remain. From a mother who lost her first-born baby, a son who never got to know his father, and a young man so badly injured […]
National Guard on Standby in Many States as America Faces Tense Election Day
Hundreds of National Guardsmen from 18 states and Washington, D.C., have been activated or are on standby on the eve of the U.S. presidential election, according to a defense official. The official told Military.com that Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Washington state have all activated small numbers of National […]
What an All-Volunteer Force Looks Like Today 50 Years After America Ditched the Draft
Taren Dillon Sylvester is a researcher at the Center for a New American Security. Despite 50 years of an All-Volunteer Force, fear of conscription remains just below the surface as Americans consider the role of the U.S. military and their relationship to it. Today, whispers of conscription ripple across social media whenever it seems that […]