The Most Awesome Men's Entertainment Site On The Internet
The eyes of four men, captured in a single photograph, tell a story of approximately 80 years of warfare. The horrors they witnessed and the experiences they shared are reflected in their eyes, growing more profound as they aged. Each of these men went to war, yet their experiences spanned completely different types of warfare.
There are a couple of ways to answer this. I’d argue that, in order of formidability, the most determined enemies the United States has faced in battle are:
Themselves (the combined military forces of the Confederacy and Union).
The military forces of the Empire of Japan (the Imperial Japanese Army, Navy, and Army Air Forces).
The military forces of Nazi Germany (the German armed forces, or the Wehrmacht, consisted of the Heer (Army), the Kriegsmarine (Navy) and the Luftwaffe (Air Force).
[Read more…] about What Was The Most Formidable Military The U.S. Has Ever Faced?
“When I came to my senses some time after I found I was in the rear of the confederate line. So not to become a prisoner I made up my mind to make an effort to get around their line and back on my own side. I got up with the help of my gun as a staff, then went back some distance, then started parallel with the line of battle. I suppose I was so covered with blood that those that I met, did not notice that I was a Yank, (at least our Major, my former captain did not recognize me when I met him after passing to our own side).
American Revolutionary War Veteran Nicholas G. Veeder outside his home in 1862. Nicholas was born in Schenectady County, New York on December 25, 1761.
In 1855, Nicholas stated that he enrolled in 1777 at the age of 16, serving in the 2nd Albany County Militia Regiment commanded by Abraham Wemple.
This regiment participated with the Continental Army at the Battle of Saratoga (1777), if Nicholas had join by that time is not known since he lacked documentation for his service and testified that “all witnesses to his service are now deceased”.
Of the nearly 750,000 soldiers that died, 95,000 died from diarrhea or dysentery.
For every soldier that died on the battlefield, two died from disease.
Poor hygiene, crowded conditions, lack of medical treatment, and latrines built near streams, created the perfect breeding ground for diseases to proliferate and spread amongst the soldiers.
Since he was 93 at the time of his marriage, and she was 17, then she went on to live until 101 herself – a full 155 years AFTER the Civil War ended.
In 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression, she married 93-year-old James Bolin (1843–1939), who had served in the 14th Missouri Cavalry. Jackson was 17. She met him when her father volunteered her to help the elderly Bolin with basic chores. With no other means to repay her kindness, Bolin offered to marry Jackson so she would become eligible to receive his pension after he died. Similar marriages had occurred before.
Jackson and Bolin were married outside his home in Niangua, Missouri. Following the marriage, the couple never made their marriage public, fearing damage to Jackson’s reputation. She continued to live with her parents. Following Bolin’s death, three years later, Jackson decided against applying for the $73.13 monthly pension after Bolin’s daughters threatened to ruin her reputation.
Although the term “post-traumatic stress” is a modern way of describing the effects of war on some individuals, the condition was certainly known during and after the Civil War. The failure of a man’s courage in the face of combat or when confronted with having to support a hard-pressed family after the war, was usually attributed to a failure of will or masculinity rather than to a medical condition. But “soldier’s heart,” as some people called it, clearly affected countless soldiers on both sides, who ended up in state asylums for the insane suffering from delusions, insomnia, paranoia, and other symptoms that were just beginning to be understood in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
(source)
