Armed Forces Day 2011

President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country.

In August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department -- the Department of Defense.

I volunteered to enter the US Air Force, with the promise that I would be sent to Armed Forces Radio-TV school. But the "silly-willies" (civilians working in Base Personnel) miss-categorized me, sending to Ground Radio Operator school.

The outcome of that scenario doomed me to wander the jungles of South-East Asia with a back pack radio, calling in air strikes!

I'm smiling with joy that I finally, cleverly, flunked out of Ground Radio Operator school, and was being reassigned from Keesler AFB, Mississippi, for On the Job Training as a Personnel Specialist at Hamilton AFB, just north of "Baghdad by the Bay" - San Francisco!

The outcome of that scenario was much much better!

To all active duty and former military personnel, "Thank You!"

See Also:
Prince Rupert's Armored Train