Florida Veteran Health Heroes

Before the Army was established, colonists were organized into rag-tag militias with no real structure or unified chain of command. But in spring 1775, most wanted to attack the British near Boston but knew they needed more structure to confront the pro- fessional soldiers on the other side. That’s where the official birth of the Army came in, on June 14, 1775, through a resolution from the Continental Congress. The next day, George Washington was ap- pointed as commander-in-chief of the new Army, and he took command of his troops in Boston on July 3, 1775, according to the Army History Division. Of the 44 men who have served as presi- dent of the US, 31 had military service. Twenty-four of them served in the Army, or state militias (our modern-day National Guard). Though being in the military is not a requirement for the presidency, President George Washington started a trend that saw future presidents, in some cases, mak- ing their name as war heroes. For example, Theodore Roosevelt received the Medal of Honor for his famous charge up San Juan Hill, and George H.W. Bush received the Distinguished Flying Cross during World War II and barely escaped after his plane was shot down.¹ Army At the start of the War of 1812, the U.S. Navy had only 16 seagoing warships at its disposal, compared to more than 600 on the British side. Even with most of the Royal Navy occupied fighting Napoleon in Europe, a stifling blockade of the Atlantic coast took shape. However, the Navy did manage to win some single-ship actions in the Atlantic. In trouncing HMS Guerriere, for example, USS Constitution earned the nickname “Old Ironsides” for the way opposing cannonballs supposedly bounced right off; yet its main successes came inland. With African-Americans playing a big role—due to manpower shortages, a prohibition on black sailors had gone out the window— Navy squadrons blasted their way to control of strategically important Lake Erie and Lake Champlain. No president had ever served in the Navy until World War II when it suddenly turned into a near prerequisite for reaching the White House. John F. Kennedy commanded a motor torpedo boat that was run over by a Japanese destroyer in the Solomon Islands. Lyndon B. Johnson was briefly stationed in New Zealand and Australia despite being a sitting member of Congress. Richard Nixon supervised air cargo operations. Gerald Ford served as an aircraft carrier’s assistant navigator and was nearly swept overboard in a typhoon. Jimmy Carter attended the Naval Academy (and became a submariner after the war). George H.W. Bush flew 58 combat missions, including one in which he was shot down over the Pacific. In fact, from 1961 to 1993, the only non-Navy man to become president was Ronald Reagan.² Navy 3 2019 Florida Veteran Health Heroes