Veterans Day is a time to honor those who fought in the Revolutionary War to the men and women who are serving in the military now.
Here’s a look at some facts about Veterans Day:
There are many famous veterans, but how many were born on Veterans Day? Gen. George S. Patton was, on Nov. 11, 1885, in San Gabriel, California.
Patton’s family was wealthy from his mother’s side and his father was the first district attorney of Pasadena and mayor of San Marino. Patton graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1909.
He married the daughter of a wealthy tycoon in 1910 and represented the U.S. in the Olympics in 1912. He competed in the modern pentathlon.
Patton saw his first combat in pursuit of Pancho Villa in 1916. The following year, he joined Gen. John J. Pershing in World War I in the fight in France.
He became the first officer for the U.S. Tank Corps. Patton was wounded in the war and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery under fire.
Patton was made commander of the 2nd Armored Division. Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he organized the Desert Training Center near Indio to simulate combat and maneuvers in the harsh North African climate. Patton led his army in battle in Italy, France and Germany. After the war, on Dec. 9, 1945, Patton sustained serious injuries in a low-speed car accident; after 12 days of terrible pain, he died.
The Gen. Patton Museum is located at Chiriaco Summit, east of Indio, California.
Learn more at generalpattonmuseum.com.
Imagine taking orders from Darth Vader. James Earl Jones voiced one of most notorious sci-fi villains. Jones served with the Army during the Korean War. A member of the University of Michigan’s Reserve Officer Training Corps, Jones was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army and assigned to Headquarters Company, 38th Regimental Combat Team.
Jimmy Stewart entered the Army as a private and at the end of World War II was a colonel in the Army Air Corps, fully decorated as the result of the 20 combat missions he flew over Germany as leader of a squadron of B-24s. Among his medals were two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Croix de Guerre. Stewart continued his military career after World War II by serving in the Air Force Reserves and rose to the rank of brigadier general.
During World War II and long before they were Golden Girls, Bea Arthur and Betty White served in the U.S. military. Arthur enlisted with the Marine Corps’ Women’s Reservists, becoming one of the first people to do so. She served as a typist at Marine headquarters. White served with the American Women’s Voluntary Services, an organization dedicated to providing support to the war effort. She also worked as an exchange truck driver delivering military supplies.
Post-traumatic stress disorder may be caused by many events including violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, combat and other forms of violence.
Thousands of veterans returning from combat encouraged the VA to create the nation’s largest research center for the treatment of PTSD. In 2017, the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder began studying the relationship between genetics, metabolics and neuronal markers and PTSD.
The center is telling veterans that trauma-focused psychotherapy is the first-line treatment for PTSD.
Sources: National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, Reperes, The Associated Press, The American Legion, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
