Thanksgiving, as many of us understand it, is a uniquely American holiday. While the tradition predates the founding of this country, it has been an important part of our culture for as long as any of us can remember. While days of thanksgiving are common throughout many societies, the formal holiday of Thanksgiving in the United States has added weight and significance here in this country.
For many people, Thanksgiving is a time when family members gather to spend time with each other. At its core, however, Thanksgiving is a time of expressing gratitude for the blessings in our lives.
At the prompting of the U.S. Congress in 1789, President George Washington formally selected Thursday, November 26, 1789, as “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer” for the “many signal favors of Almighty God.” Later, President Abraham Lincoln made the holiday a federal one fixed on the final Thursday of November each year. Both of these men were wartime leaders, and both understood that peace, liberty and prosperity were things for which we all should be thankful.
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For many American service members deployed abroad, the holiday holds a special significance as a time to express gratitude and for remembrance of loved ones at home. Deployed soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen have found ways to celebrate this quintessentially American holiday, often in challenging and dangerous conditions.
Americans in combat make do with what they have available. For Thanksgiving religious services, chaplains have used altars made of ammo cans or the hood of a jeep. Turkey dinners are flown to men at remote outposts where they may be eaten crouched down in a foxhole. For a G.I. on the battlefield, some time at peace with a carved turkey with sides of stuffing, potatoes and a pie wedge can make for a little flavor of home.
We here at The Armory Life want to express our gratitude to all those men and women deployed — both today, and in the past — during Thanksgiving.
We’ve assembled this photo essay of our troops serving on Thanksgiving. We hope that you take a few minutes to scroll through and appreciate — as we do — what your fellow countrymen have sacrificed so that all of us can be with friends and family today.
And for our readers who have spent part of their own lives deployed during the holidays, thank you. Please visit our forum and share your experiences with other readers — many of which who have likely served or are still serving today.
Editor’s Note: Please be sure to check out The Armory Life Forum, where you can comment about our daily articles, as well as just talk guns and gear. Click the “Go To Forum Thread” link below to jump in!
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