Happy 240th Birthday US Army! Can we celebrate any better than to take note and enjoy the 23 fun and significant facts laid out for us so beautifully by the USO itself?
Indeed.
Army Strong!
23 Facts for the Army’s 240th Birthday
1. First, the basics: The United States Army as we know it today was founded June 14, 1775, when the First Continental Congress OK’d the enlistment of soldiers to serve the united American colonies.
2. Nearly 70 percent of all Medals of Honor have been awarded to soldiers. And 1,198 of the Army’s 2,403 Medals of Honor were awarded for actions in the Civil War.
3. Hungry, soldier? Well, the Army is looking into 3D printing food.
4. The USO has been helping soldiers since its inception. Here’s one Tuskegee Airman’s story of how a USO tour director helped him in the face of racism.
5. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey is the ninth Army general to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That’s more than double any other branch. Dempsey is retiring in 2015.
6. Francis Marion – known as “The Swamp Fox” – headed a group of Revolutionary War-era Army Rangers known as Marion’s Partisans. He is also credited with creating modern guerrilla warfare, which was key to the American victory against the British.
7. More than half of the men elected President of the United States – 24 to be exact – have worn the Army’s uniform.
8. Pvt. James Buchanan was the only president who served in the Army who didn’t become an officer.
8. June 14 is also Flag Day. Officially adopted in 1916, the first iteration of the American flag was actually authorized by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.
9. The Army is marginally responsible for inventing the microwave. A World War II engineer at Raytheon realized radiation from radar – which the Army was using to scan for enemy missiles – could be used to heat products, too.
10. Galusha Pennypacker is widely recognized as the youngest general in Army history, earning a promotion to brevet brigadier general at the age of 20 during the Civil War.
11. The Army was the last branch to adopt an official song, declaring “The Army Goes Rolling Along” as its official tune in 1956. (You can download it here.)
12. The USO helps out modern soldiers in a host of ways beyond snacks and a place to snooze. Here’s the story of Army Spc. Austin Hunsinger, who needed help fast to get to his father’s funeral.
13. The Army likes to name its helicopters in honor of Native American tribes. Here’s why.
14. The Air Force was part of the Army until 1947.
15. Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold is the only person to be promoted to the rank of five-star general in two different branches — the Army and the Air Force.
16. The Lewis and Clark Expedition was actually an Army campaign to map and discover the geographic secrets of the continent.
17. Robert E. Lee famously graduated from West Point in 1829 with zero demerits. He’s often given credit for being the only person to pull off the feat. But according to at least one researched column in the Topeka Capital-Journal, Lee actually graduated second in his class behind a man named Charles Mason, who also equaled Lee’s zero demerits feat.
18. For the sake of comparison, Gen. of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower graduated with 307 demerits, according to the same story. (He turned out alright, though.)
19. Eisenhower was the last general from any branch to be elected president.
20. It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it’s true: the Army tested the spread of biological agents on unknowing Americans from the 1940s through the 1960s, inadvertently killing at least one civilian by dispersing what was previously thought to be a harmless bacteria.
21. Bob Neyland graduated West Point in 1916 and is still the baseball team’s all-time leader in pitching victories (35). Neyland was also a boxer and — perhaps most famously — went on to coach the University of Tennessee’s football team. The school’s football stadium is named after him.
22. Speaking of football, Army was once a national power. They won a piece of three straight national championships between 1944 and 1946.
23. The Old Guard still keeps watch over the Tomb of the Unknowns.
Celebrate the U.S. Army’s 240th birthday with us by signing their birthday card.
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