Thirty years ago, school kids touring Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. were asked what Memorial Day meant to them. “That’s the day the pools open!” they responded, as if in a chorus. Their response rippled across the U.S. and created a bit of a moral panic among the patriotic and civil-minded. The following Memorial Day, Congress sought to put the “memorial” back into the holiday. “Taps,” a 24-note bugle call adopted by the U.S. military in the late 1800s for funerals, was played on radios and televisions throughout the United States at 3:00 pm. Those celebrating the day off paused, perhaps mid-hot dog bite, to reflect on fallen U.S. soldiers. After a minute of silence, Americans resumed their fun.
What does it mean to reflect on the soldiers who died while fighting in U.S. wars? Is such a thing possible? If it is, maybe we should start with the raw numbers.
Around 25,000 U.S. soldiers died in the War for Independence; roughly 5,600 soldiers died or were wounded as they ethnically cleansed Indigenous tribes between 1785 and 1898; approximately 20,000 died in the War of 1812, mostly of disease; 625,000 died on both sides of the Civil War; 2,446 died in the Spanish-American War; 4,200 U.S. soldiers died “annexing” the Philippines; 95 died in the Boxer Rebellion; 22 died and 70 were wounded in the Mexican Revolution; at least 86 died in the occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934; nearly 117,000 were killed in World War I; 424 U.S. troops died fighting the Bolsheviks in Russia from 1918-1920; 15,000 U.S. servicemembers lost their lives in the Mexican-American War; 405,000 were killed in World War II; more than 52,000 were killed in the Korean War; more than 58,000 were killed while committing what some call a genocide in Vietnam.
We’re a little less than halfway done with this list. It feels strange packing all this death into a single paragraph, so I imagine it feels strange reading through it quickly, too. Consider standing up and walking around for a few minutes before continuing. Or at least pausing for a minute to make an effort to “memorialize” the people behind these numbers, as the government would like us to on Memorial Day, if you believe such a thing is possible.
Fifteen U.S. soldiers were killed in Lebanon in 1958; four were killed in the Bay of Pigs invasion; eight were killed in Iran in 1980; 15 U.S. soldiers died in El Salvador’s Civil War from 1980 to 1992; 265 died in Beirut between 1982 and 1984; 39 died escorting oil tankers through the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz from 1987-1988; 19 were killed in Grenada; two died in a bombing at the LaBelle Club in West Berlin in 1986; 1,231 were killed or wounded in first Gulf War from 1990 to 1991; 19 were killed aiding Kurdish refugees fleeing Iraq in 1991 in what was known as Operation Provide Comfort; 30 soldiers were killed in Somalia from 1992-1993; four died in Haiti between 1994 and 1995.
We’re almost done. Just 30 more years of American war history left.
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