Tales of Patriotic and Brave Heroes for U.S. Army’s Birthday

Today, June 14, is the 251st birthday of the United States Army. In honor of this important anniversary, I want to highlight a handful of the lesser known patriotic and courageous heroes who served in the Army throughout American history.

The stories below come from the National Museum of the United States Army in Virginia, the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum, and the New England Air Museum. If you have stories of U.S. soldiers in your family, share them below. My relatives who served in the Army include Paul, Bruce, Gordon, and Jack Corley, Timothy O'Brien, James Lees, and my brother.

Around Samuel B. Webb at the Battle of Bunker Hill, American soldiers were dropping dead under British fire. "Four men were shot dead within five feet of me; but, thank Heaven, I escaped with only the graze of a musket ball on my hand," Webb said. He survived, but he would end up suffering multiple wounds throughout his service in the American Revolutionary Army. He proved, however, that nothing could keep him from fighting for the new nation.

At White Plains, the enemy injured Webb a second time, and then at Trenton in 1776, Webb received his third battle wound. In 1777, after he equipped the 9th Connecticut Regiment, the British captured him during a raid on Long Island. Freed in 1781, Webb took charge of two new light infantry regiments and finished the Revolution with the rank of brigadier general.

During the Civil War, a boy only known as "Jackson" escaped from his slaveowners and managed to make his way to Union territory and freedom. Soon after he arrived as a refugee, he joined the U.S. Army as a drummer for the 79th U.S. Colored Troops. He might have been only a kid, but he was old enough to wear the uniform and fight for freedom — both personal and national freedom.

Jackson was following in the tradition of other youthful patriots like Jarvis F. Hanks, who was 14 years old in 1813. He declared, "I was prepared to enter the Army, in the service of my country, as a musician." He enlisted during the War of 1812 as a drummer, which at that time was a very important role for helping deliver orders in code amid the noise and chaos of a battlefield. But since drummers were so key and also marched right behind the regimental colors, they were a major target for enemy fire. Hanks had numerous "close calls" as he served in the Battle of Chippewa, the Battle of Lundy's Lane, and the siege of Fort Erie, but he lived through them all. When it was time for the still-teenaged Hanks to leave the Army, his regimental commander praised him for having "faithfully performed all the duties of an excellent drummer and soldier."

Corporal Frank Buckles was only 16 years old when he put on the uniform. He wasn't old enough to serve in the Army, but he managed to fool the recruiter into believing he was 18 because he wanted so badly to fight for America in World War I. "The Ambulance Service was the quickest way to get to France because the French were begging for ambulance services," Buckles explained. He served for two years with the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe as he drove ambulances and then escorted German prisoners.

Decades later, when World War II broke out, he was working for a steamship line in Manila, and ended up in a Japanese prison camp for three and half years. But unlike so many others under the vicious and thuggish control of the imperial Japanese, Buckles survived. He died in 2011 as the last surviving American veteran of WWI.

Tuskegee Airman and Major Charles B. Hall is an example of an Army patriot who didn't receive the recognition he earned. The New England Air Museum explains:

On 2 July 1943, Lt. Charles B. Hall was on his eighth combat mission with the 99th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, escorting a flight of B-25 bombers on a raid over Sicily. While over the target, he spotted two oncoming German Fw190 fighters and maneuvered his P-40 to place himself between the bombers and the enemy planes. He fired a long burst, hitting one of the fighters several times, and it soon fell away and crashed into the ground. The Tuskegee Airmen had claimed their first victory.
After the war, now-Major Hall returned home. Despite his status as the first African American to shoot down an enemy aircraft during World War II, he was unable to gain employment with any commercial airline due to his race.

Fortunately, while America has often failed to live up to its founding ideals, the men who have served in the Army have in each generation challenged those failures, defended liberty, and pushed our country toward true constitutional equality.

Editor’s Note: Every single day, especially in this 250th year of America’s existence, here at PJ Media, we will stand up and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT against the radical left and deliver the conservative reporting our readers deserve.

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