"Freedom has never been free," said Medgar Evers. It is the perfect quote to reflect on as we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States Army on June 14.
On that fateful June day, the Continental Congress passed a resolution to create the force we now call the U.S. Army. It is fascinating that the Army, like the Navy and Marines, actually predates the founding of our nation, which occurred, of course, in 1776. However, many of the Revolutionaries already understood that they were not just fighting for rights from Great Britain, but also for their independence.
The resolution ordered: "That six companies of expert riflemen [sic], be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia; … [and] that each company, as soon as completed, shall march and join the army near Boston, to be there employed as light infantry, under the command of the chief Officer in that army." George Washington would be the commander-in-chief, the indispensable man to lead this volunteer army.
Exactly two years later, on June 14, 1777, the Congress officially adopted the Stars and Stripes as our national flag. A new nation was being created, founded on liberty and equality, aiming to protect God-given rights, and the entire world would never be the same again.
Mississippi NAACP field secretary Evers, who died on this day in 1963 after being shot in the back — likely by a member of the Democrats' terror wing, the KKK — made the above statement in the larger context of his work to end Jim Crow: "Freedom has never been free... I love my children and I love my wife with all my heart. And I would die, die gladly, if that would make a better life for them." But it applies to the Army, too.
And it is worth noting that one of the wars where the Army distinguished itself, in fact, the bloodiest war in American history, was the war fought over slavery and the question of whether America would live up to its founding principle that all men are created equal. Furthermore, Evers himself served in the military during World War II.
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Like so many other soldiers throughout our history, he carried his fighting spirit from the battlefield to the political arena and was killed for it. But he believed, as millions of other Americans who served in the Army have believed ever since 1775, that freedom is not only worth fighting for, it is worth dying for.
The United States of America is a very great country, but a comparatively "new" country in the annals of human history. And its founding philosophy of liberty, equality, and prosperity for all was certainly a radical change at the national level. Two and a half centuries is a significant period, however. Many other governments, including some very old ones, have fallen during that time, and the political, economic, and cultural landscape of the world is radically different from what it was in the 18th century in many ways. Part of that is due to America, and America would never have existed but for the Army.
Make sure to honor our troops and veterans this June 14 and celebrate the birth of the world's greatest Army — the U.S. Army.
