US Memorial Day

[lpetrich]

This is US Memorial Day, "a federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the military personnel who have died in the performance of their military duties." ( Memorial Day)

For this day, I note  United States military casualties of war

From it: Note: "Total casualties" includes wounded, combat and non-combat deaths but not missing in action. "Deaths – other" includes all non-combat deaths including those from bombing, massacres, disease, suicide, and murder.

By combat deaths, World War II is the champion at 291,557. The Civil War was is at ~215,000 total, 140,414 Union Army, ~94,000 Confederate Army, and World War I at 53,402. The Vietnam War is at 47,434, the Korean War 33,686, the Revolutionary War ~8,000, the Iraq War 4,424, and the War of 1812 2,260. The War in Afghanistan is at 1,833 and the Mexican War 1,733.

By all US military deaths, the Civil War is the champion at ~655,000 (2.083% of prewar population), with 364,511 Union Army, ~290,000 Confederate Army, World War II 405,399 (0.307%), World War I 116,516 (0.110%), Vietnam War 58,209 (0.032%), Korean War 36,574 (0.024%), Revolutionary War ~25,000 (1.00%), War of 1812 ~15,000 (0.207%), Mexican-American War 13,283 (0.057%), Iraq War 4,576 (0.002%), Philippine-American War 4,196 (0.006%), War in Afghanistan 2,420 (0.001%), Spanish-American War 2,246 (0.004%).

As fractions of the population killed, the Civil War is the worst at 2%, followed by the Revolutionary War at 1%, WWII at 0.3%, the War of 1812 at 0.2%, WWI at 0.1%, with most of the others much less.

Estimating military-age men as 1/6 of the population (men between 20 and 40), one must multiply these numbers by 6, so that the Civil War killed some 12% of US military-age men, the Revolutionary War 6%, WWII 2%, etc.


The Civil War had the most noncombat deaths, likely due to diseases spread by poor sanitation. World War II was better there.

 

[lpetrich]

 List of wars involving the United States - a big list, complete with lists of participants on each side
It might be nice to extend this list to the US's predecessors, those 13 British colonies.

 

[untermensche]

It should be a day we drag people out like GW Bush and Dick Cheney and hang them as enemies of the American people.

That's how we should honor the men and women they sent to an unnecessary death.

A day we hang Obama for killing American citizens without a trial.

Hang a few of these fuckers and the rest might treat US citizens with respect.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I was thinking more along the lines of Memorial Day reminding us of the price of nationalism and how we must work together to avoid falling into its trap. Japan, Germany, Italy put forth national movements and did unspeakable things. Then the Allies responded by doing, less to slightly less unspeakable things to stop those movements. America and Europe are dangerously heading back to the early 20th century. And most of the people that paid the price of fighting for and stopping the madness in the 20th century are gone, leaving us with little to remember by other than happily seeking glory war movies.

 

[untermensche]

A lot of the US violence is for the "economy", meaning to help the rich stay rich and get richer.

Using force to prop up traitors that allow US corporations to exploit resources.

The guy who wrote this won 2 Medal of Honor awards.

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html#c1

 

[Alcoholic Actuary]

In the spirit of keeping consistent with other confederate statue and flag threads, the 'south' were not US casualties. They were traitors who seceded, formed their own country, and rebelled against the US. This isn't to say that they're deaths aren't as tragic as any other enemy of the US, but it is a technicality to count them among US combat/other deaths.

aa

 

[Patooka]

Retired Lieutenant Colonel's microphone is cut at Memorial Day.

From the Daily Mail. Sorry.

At a Memorial Day ceremony in Ohio, a veteran's microphone was cut off as he started talking about how slaves started the holiday. Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter said he wanted to use his speech to detail the history of the holiday, but American Legion officials did not think it was appropriate. They told him to remove the part about the origins of the holiday, but he said he was not informed about which part they wanted him to delete. During his keynote address, the microphone was cut off for about two minutes.

Incidents like this kinda makes it difficult to argue that things like the 1619 Project is unnecessary.