Perhaps the most well-known veterans organization in the country, the American Legion is a non-profit organization of US war veterans, with a membership of approximately 1.8 million. A thousand members of the American Expeditionary Force founded the Legion in Paris in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness. The American Legion was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919 and has enjoyed a high profile since its largest veterans organization. Ten of the...
Understanding Military Job Codes
As the world’s largest employer, the United States Department of Defense has a complex system of military job codes to help manage employment in various military branches. However, each branch’s job code functions differently. Military Occupational Specialty Codes The United States Army and United States Marine Corps, the MOS code, or military occupational specialty code, is used to identify specific military jobs. This system is distinct from the standard occupational classification (SOC)...
What is a Military Shadow Box?
A shadow box is typically an enclosed, deep frame, glass-front display case for items of personal or artistic significance to be grouped and shown together. The items are typically held a short distance above the material backing the box, which creates a striking visual distinction. Shadow boxes can be used to display ceremonial weapons, medal ribbons and medals, unit and combat patches, rank insignia, and other meaningful items from a veteran’s military career. Why Are They Called Shadow...
Stars & Stripes Newspaper Partners With Together We Served
Stars & Stripes Newspaper Partners With Together We Served The illustrious and storied Stars & Stripes newspaper partners with Together We Served to provide its members with a half-price subscription to their publication. Veterans and active service members that make use of Together We Served should not miss out on this opportunity to receive quality military journalism five days a week. Introduction to Stars & Stripes A daily American military newspaper, Stars & Stripes...
Interesting Facts About the Korean War
Sixty-eight years ago, the Korean War began and threatened to turn into WWIII. Here are five basic facts, some small, some large about the Korean War. Korean War & Prisoners of War Tens of thousands of South Korean troops were taken prisoner by the North during the war. Many never returned South. Most are presumed dead, though word has gotten through that many still live as senior citizens in North Korea to this day. Likewise, many North Korean and Chinese were taken prisoner by American,...
World War II Veterans
How Many World War II Veterans are Still Alive Today? According to Pew Research, the number of living WWII veterans dropped to under 300,000 in 2020 from over 930,000 in 2015. The oldest of these veterans is Lawrence Brooks, an Army veteran born in Louisiana in September 1909, drafted at the age of 31, and sent to the Pacific front with the 91st Engineers. One of the 1.2 million African-Americans served during the war, PFC Brooks mainly cooked and cleaned for his superior officers. The...
Fascinating Facts About The Film “Saving Private Ryan”
One of the most accurate and raw depictions of World War II can be found in the film Saving Private Ryan. This film portrayed the terror and chaos that typifies war, rather than the sanitized and unrealistic images that Hollywood tended to put out in past films. Opening scene capturing D-Day, storming the beaches of Normandy, FR. With the realism portrayed in the film, there were many behind-the-scenes tricks that director Steven Spielberg employed to ensure that the ageless footage and...
Teenage Sisters Persuaded German Soldiers
Jannetje Johanna "Hannie" Schaft and Truus and Freddie Oversteegen When the Nazis steamrolled into the Netherlands in May of 1940, Jannetje Johanna "Hannie" Schaft and Truus and Freddie Oversteegen were just 19, 16, and 14 years old, respectively. As for the Oversteegen sisters, their mother, Trijn, had left their father years before. Freddie states of this, "She was just fed up one day - we lived on a large ship in Haarlem, but my father never made any money and didn't pay anything for the...
Explaining U.S. Coast Guard Operations
While being one of the smaller branches of the United States Armed Forces, the U.S. Coast Guard is vital to the United States defense and broader protection. Coast Guard operations range from air and sea rescues to drug trafficking interceptions. The U.S. Coast Guard were also a vital force in the support of D-Day, Vietnam War brown water operations and protection services in the Persian Gulf. Missions of the United States Coast Guard Broadly, the Coast Guard is responsible for three...
What is the New United States Space Force?
If you haven’t been paying attention to military news for the last few years, you could easily be forgiven for asking, ‘What is the Space Force?’ Though it sounds like something out of a cheap science fiction novel, it constitutes a significant proportion of the ongoing defense budget. President Donald Trump instituted several changes in the Department of Defense policy during his tenure as commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces, but none more dramatic than creating a new branch....
Many articles contained in this Blog were written by Together We Served’s former Chief Editor, Lt Col Michael Christy, and published in TWS’s Dispatches Newsletter.