The United States of America over its history has been involved in 80 wars and military operations in which soldiers lost their lives. They range from obscure battles in faraway places to titanic conflicts like the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and World Wars One and Two. In these conflicts, there have been 2,800,000 casualties, including 664,000 combat deaths. By far the greatest American conflict was the Civil War, with 215,000 combat deaths on both sides, and in excess of 400,000 wounded.
Throughout our history, our soldiers have fought with a level of loyalty to their cause that is exceptional in human experience. There has never been a major mutiny in an American army, despite the often grueling, even impossible, conditions our troops have faced. Between September of 1944 and February of 1945, the US Army fought its longest sustained battle, the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest in Germany. During the battle, 33,000 American soldiers were killed or wounded.
The United States fields the largest armed force in the world, and maintains a military presence in every theater of potential operations on the planet. It is the most powerful military force ever assembled.
Today, we Americans and all those whose freedom we have defended join together in remembering those who gave everything to this great cause, and who participated in its conflicts.
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