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Started By
Message
re: The worst wars to be a US soldier in
Posted on 1/17/22 at 8:49 pm to samson73103
Posted on 1/17/22 at 8:49 pm to samson73103
0
Posted on 1/17/22 at 8:55 pm to samson73103
quote:
I'll take what is the modern Democratic Party for $500, Alex.
Generally, you can take "modern" out of that.
They're the oldest political party on the planet. You don't get there without blood on your hands
Posted on 1/17/22 at 9:00 pm to Palmetto98
Korean War. All but forgotten but the weather alone was brutal. Look up the Chosin Reservoir Battle, PBS has a good documentary on it out there worth a watch.
Posted on 1/17/22 at 9:06 pm to AUCE05
quote:
WW1 is considered the worst
For the US though? I get that it was brutal still but we didn’t enter until it was half over and the British and French (and lots of other countries) lost many, many times the number that we did
Posted on 1/17/22 at 9:22 pm to Palmetto98
Civil. Family members fighting to the death.
Posted on 1/17/22 at 9:25 pm to Palmetto98
edit- I was thinking should have been its own thread it took so long to do.
When I was a Kid an Old man named "Mutt" used to tell us War stories.. He was in Italy... I used to think "Italy.. pffttt"// that is nothing compared to D-Day...
But I was wrong.. oh so wrong. after taking the time to read a few history books on the 45th Infantry and the Italian campaign... It was brutal and so over looked.. Mud, Mountains and Mules... Against an entrenched enemy that always had the high ground.
But I am going to have to go with the Civil War on this one.
What if I told you that I had a confederate soldiers tombstone... Would you believe me? Would you think that I was a thief or a weirdo? So I'll tell this little tale and you can see how it fits this thread and that I am not a vandel.
Close to where I grew up was an old Confederate Cemetery originally called Camp Hope.. It was Arkansas and Texas Soldiers of the 10th Texas Infantry I believe. Anyways they camped near Austin Arkansas... Over the winter they got sick dues to measles, but local legend says bad water. Anyways about 1,500 of them died during the winter of 1862. They were buried all over the area. By the roadside, in the ditches, everywhere and scattered. The Camp later was named Camp Nelson after a General Nelson that died there and it was later abandoned.
in 1872 the Railroad had came through and missed Austin Arkansas. Austin Arkansas completely moved by the Railroad tracks and this area then became known as Old Austin as it is now called today.
In 1905 a group of confederate veterans got a little donated money and a small piece of land by where the Camp originally was located and all the graves that they could find were dug up and relocated in one place at Old Austin Arkansas.
The Soldiers were given gray unmarked Tombstones. They relocated over 400 graves.
Here is what it looked like with the original tombstones. I took this picture 42 years ago.
The Cemetery was over taken by the forest and forgotten until it was re-discovered; exactly when I do not know.
In 1981 when Ronald Reagan was in Office and J.O. Issac was the ROTC Instructor at Cabot High School, about 10 miles away, he read where Ronald Reagan had sign something which made confederate soldiers just as equal as US soldiers concerning their burial. (If anyone can find what this act was, please share.) So with this J.O. Issac, The ROTC, FFA and other students along with the WHomever was in charge of National Cemeteries for the government. The Cemetery was cleaned up... The Old gray gravestones were removed and New Clean and Marked Marble Tombstones were added. Everyone of them says the same thing.
"Unknown Soldier CSA" Here is a photo of one and what the Cemetery looks like now.
And the Cemetery itself today.
Now as to the original tombstones? Well... They were just throwing them away, some went into the trash can, some just left laying on the ground in the woods... They didn't care about them.
So I picked one up and I have had it for 40 years.
If you go to Camp Nelson Cemetery today and go along the back fence on the NE corner there are still a bunch of these lying beside the fence covered in dirt and leaves.
But if you really, really think about it, there are about 1,100 unfound graves still in the area.
LINK
LINK
When I was a Kid an Old man named "Mutt" used to tell us War stories.. He was in Italy... I used to think "Italy.. pffttt"// that is nothing compared to D-Day...
But I was wrong.. oh so wrong. after taking the time to read a few history books on the 45th Infantry and the Italian campaign... It was brutal and so over looked.. Mud, Mountains and Mules... Against an entrenched enemy that always had the high ground.
But I am going to have to go with the Civil War on this one.
What if I told you that I had a confederate soldiers tombstone... Would you believe me? Would you think that I was a thief or a weirdo? So I'll tell this little tale and you can see how it fits this thread and that I am not a vandel.
Close to where I grew up was an old Confederate Cemetery originally called Camp Hope.. It was Arkansas and Texas Soldiers of the 10th Texas Infantry I believe. Anyways they camped near Austin Arkansas... Over the winter they got sick dues to measles, but local legend says bad water. Anyways about 1,500 of them died during the winter of 1862. They were buried all over the area. By the roadside, in the ditches, everywhere and scattered. The Camp later was named Camp Nelson after a General Nelson that died there and it was later abandoned.
in 1872 the Railroad had came through and missed Austin Arkansas. Austin Arkansas completely moved by the Railroad tracks and this area then became known as Old Austin as it is now called today.
In 1905 a group of confederate veterans got a little donated money and a small piece of land by where the Camp originally was located and all the graves that they could find were dug up and relocated in one place at Old Austin Arkansas.
The Soldiers were given gray unmarked Tombstones. They relocated over 400 graves.
Here is what it looked like with the original tombstones. I took this picture 42 years ago.
The Cemetery was over taken by the forest and forgotten until it was re-discovered; exactly when I do not know.
In 1981 when Ronald Reagan was in Office and J.O. Issac was the ROTC Instructor at Cabot High School, about 10 miles away, he read where Ronald Reagan had sign something which made confederate soldiers just as equal as US soldiers concerning their burial. (If anyone can find what this act was, please share.) So with this J.O. Issac, The ROTC, FFA and other students along with the WHomever was in charge of National Cemeteries for the government. The Cemetery was cleaned up... The Old gray gravestones were removed and New Clean and Marked Marble Tombstones were added. Everyone of them says the same thing.
"Unknown Soldier CSA" Here is a photo of one and what the Cemetery looks like now.
And the Cemetery itself today.
Now as to the original tombstones? Well... They were just throwing them away, some went into the trash can, some just left laying on the ground in the woods... They didn't care about them.
So I picked one up and I have had it for 40 years.
If you go to Camp Nelson Cemetery today and go along the back fence on the NE corner there are still a bunch of these lying beside the fence covered in dirt and leaves.
But if you really, really think about it, there are about 1,100 unfound graves still in the area.
LINK
LINK
This post was edited on 1/17/22 at 9:30 pm
Posted on 1/17/22 at 9:27 pm to Palmetto98
Civil war if you were poor
Posted on 1/17/22 at 9:32 pm to DavidTheGnome
No, just a human experiencing war. I know OP specified US, but I am talking general average solider. WW1 is considered one of the worst in known history. These dudes were marched in line to artillery and machine guns while fighting chemicals with crude gas mask.
Posted on 1/17/22 at 10:07 pm to WWII Collector
quote:
WWII Collector
Fascinating post. Now do the WWII Italian story?
Posted on 1/17/22 at 10:14 pm to Palmetto98
Study the Bataan Death March.
Doesn't get much horrific than that.
Doesn't get much horrific than that.
Posted on 1/17/22 at 10:19 pm to AUCE05
quote:
No, just a human experiencing war. I know OP specified US, but I am talking general average solider. WW1 is considered one of the worst in known history.
Yep, for British and French soldiers for sure. They endured absolute hell.
Posted on 1/17/22 at 10:21 pm to Palmetto98
None of them were as bad as what teachers are currently going through
Posted on 1/17/22 at 10:35 pm to WWII Collector
That’s a cool story. You are a great storyteller and historian. We are lucky to have you here to share with us. I appreciate all you do.
Posted on 1/17/22 at 10:58 pm to fr33manator
Thank you guys so much... I truly do appreciate it.
Posted on 1/17/22 at 11:21 pm to DavidTheGnome
quote:
Chosin
That ordeal is both fascinating and terrifying. Another bona-fide hell on earth war situation.
Posted on 1/17/22 at 11:31 pm to dbeck
I think you're missing my point. From what I've been told, all war is hell. Just my $0.02.
Posted on 1/18/22 at 5:37 am to Palmetto98
Hands down, the choice is the Civil War. Introduction of Miniballs which did a lot of damage and the only treatment was amputation.
Posted on 1/18/22 at 6:36 am to Palmetto98
I'll preface this by saying that while I was at the Citadel, I took a two part history course on "The patterns and history of warfare to 1865" and "The patterns and history of warfare from 1865". They were two of the best classes I took while there.
First off, no war is pleasant. But for shear brutality, I think one would have to say the Civil War was the worst. Many of the things I've heard said in this thread about the horrors of the 1st world war, actually happened or started in the Civil War. The use of Napoleonic tactics in the face of "modern" (at the time) rifled musket and canister shot, led to thousands of men being slaughtered. This in turn led to the emergence of trench warfare as seen in Battles (sieges) of Vicksburg and Petersburg/Richmond. Also, the first automatic weapons appeared during the civil war in the advent of the 6 barrel gatling guns and iron clad warships. All of this coupled with lack of what we would call modern medicine made this Civil war a truly awful endeavor.
But one of the worst wars that has gotten almost no mention here is the Korean War. Look no further than the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. I'll use it as an example of KIA/WIA don't really tell the whole story when it comes to the horrors of war. While "only" roughly 1000 men were lost and another roughly 5,000 were wounded at Chosin, the "non-battle" casualties in the engagement were roughly twice that amount. PBS had a great series on it a while back, here's a couple of excerpts from Youtube on Chosin. Chapter 1 | The Battle of Chosin | American Experience | PBS
Surrounded, from "The Battle of Chosin"
One of my English Professors at the Citadel was a Korean War Vet and the stories he told us were horoffic. He was shot up so badly, the they threw him on a tuck full of dead bodies to be buried in a mass grave. Fortunately, somebody saw him move and said "Hey, that guys' not dead" and they patched him back together. He was one of the most battle hardened men I ever knew, and I had an uncle that was a Marine in Vietnam (who sufferers from PTSD to this day) and my Father in Law was a Marine in the South Pacific during WWII.
As I said, all wars are awful, and Vietnam was too. But I think Vietnam has more a a mystique because it was the 1st television war, and the despicable way the country treated the Veterans after they returned home.
First off, no war is pleasant. But for shear brutality, I think one would have to say the Civil War was the worst. Many of the things I've heard said in this thread about the horrors of the 1st world war, actually happened or started in the Civil War. The use of Napoleonic tactics in the face of "modern" (at the time) rifled musket and canister shot, led to thousands of men being slaughtered. This in turn led to the emergence of trench warfare as seen in Battles (sieges) of Vicksburg and Petersburg/Richmond. Also, the first automatic weapons appeared during the civil war in the advent of the 6 barrel gatling guns and iron clad warships. All of this coupled with lack of what we would call modern medicine made this Civil war a truly awful endeavor.
But one of the worst wars that has gotten almost no mention here is the Korean War. Look no further than the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. I'll use it as an example of KIA/WIA don't really tell the whole story when it comes to the horrors of war. While "only" roughly 1000 men were lost and another roughly 5,000 were wounded at Chosin, the "non-battle" casualties in the engagement were roughly twice that amount. PBS had a great series on it a while back, here's a couple of excerpts from Youtube on Chosin. Chapter 1 | The Battle of Chosin | American Experience | PBS
Surrounded, from "The Battle of Chosin"
One of my English Professors at the Citadel was a Korean War Vet and the stories he told us were horoffic. He was shot up so badly, the they threw him on a tuck full of dead bodies to be buried in a mass grave. Fortunately, somebody saw him move and said "Hey, that guys' not dead" and they patched him back together. He was one of the most battle hardened men I ever knew, and I had an uncle that was a Marine in Vietnam (who sufferers from PTSD to this day) and my Father in Law was a Marine in the South Pacific during WWII.
As I said, all wars are awful, and Vietnam was too. But I think Vietnam has more a a mystique because it was the 1st television war, and the despicable way the country treated the Veterans after they returned home.
This post was edited on 1/18/22 at 6:38 am
Posted on 1/18/22 at 6:57 am to Palmetto98
Do you even Valley Forge, bro?
Posted on 1/18/22 at 7:00 am to kisatchie53
quote:
Civil War
Agree for the reasons you named and let me add one; in some cases it was family members against family members
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