Veterans Day 2015, Numbers Paint a Poignant Portrait

Do you have any idea how many men and women have served America in our Armed Forces? I had no idea until I did some elementary research and number crunching.  Did you know there are 19.3 million U.S. veterans living today? Roughly half are 65 and older. Nearly 2 million are under the age of 35.

Still interested? Here is some more numbers to chew on. Those older than 70 served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and the 2 million under 35 served mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan after 911. According to statistics World War II vets are dying at a rate of approximately 492 a day. This means there are approximately only 855,070 veterans remaining of the 16 million who served our nation in World War II. “The greatest generation” is dying off.

Of the 5.7 million who served during the Korean War, 2 million veterans are still with us. And, then there is the Vietnam War. Of the 8.7 million veterans who served in that disturbing conflict, 7 million are still breathing. To round out the numbers, 5.5 million veterans served during the Gulf War era, which spans 1990 to the present. Roughly 4.4 million veterans served during peacetime.

Sometimes we forget that other veterans had it extremely rough. How so? Nearly 63,000 living veterans served during the Vietnam War and both periods of the Gulf War. They served from August 1990 through August 2001 and then from September 2001 and beyond.

Some of our living veterans served through three wartime periods! Nearly 37,000 served during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

The makeup of the armed services is changing as our demographics change. Though nearly 80 percent are 'non-Hispanic white,' nearly 12 percent are black, 6 percent are Hispanic, 1.5 percent are Asian and nearly 2.5 percent are Native Americans, Alaskans and Hawaiians. What about women who serve? Those numbers are growing, too. There are currently 1.6 million female veterans in our country.

We are lucky to still have these men and women with us and the purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all of those who have served. But what about the people who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country? It is estimated nearly 1 million Americans have died for their country? Approximately 4500 soldiers died during the American Revolution. Then there is the Civil War, this nation’s bloodiest. Nearly 370,000 Union soldiers and 135,000 Confederate soldiers died during that war. We lost nearly 120,000 veterans in World War I and nearly 405,000 in World War II. The Korean War claimed 34,000 and the Vietnam War 48,000.

Are these not sobering numbers? Is there not a silver lining as far as war goes? There is somewhat of a silver lining. Our war-fighting techniques and medical technologies are resulting in fewer battlefield deaths. Of the 1.5 million who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, we have suffered approximately 6,500 losses. However, nearly 50,000 were wounded and unfortunately, many of the casualties are still suffering from their disabilities.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then numbers paint a poignant portrait of memories past and history worth recalling. The numbers mentioned are a reminder of what Veteran’s Day is all about. It is a special day when we honor all of those who have served.