Copyright 24 February 2004, Esther Doyle Read
Updated 8 December 2004
READ FAMILY CONNECTIONS
ROLL OF HONOR
The following is a list of individuals who served in this country's armed forces from the American Revolution to the Current Conflict in Iraq, as well as those who gave peace time service. They are either descendants of Joseph Read and Sarah Sutton or are individuals who married into the family. I look forward to a future where no young man or woman will ever have to fight in a war again. However, I also honor the memory of those who have given a part of their lives, or who have given their lives, in the service of their country.
To the left is the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. The tomb is inscribed: "Here Rests/ In Honored Glory/ An American Soldier/ Known But To God" (Photo by Timothy J. Doyle, 28 December 2003).
If you know of someone who should be on the roll, but who is not here, please contact me with the information so that they too may be remembered. Use the email link at the base of the page.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Began on 19 April 1775 when a British raid to confiscate colonial powder and guns in the town of Concord (Massachusetts Colony) resulted in the "shot heard around the world" at the North Bridge at Concord. The photograph is of the Minute Man Statue on the south approach of the bridge in what is now Minute Man National Historical Park in Massachusetts. The war ended exactly eight years later when Washington disbanded the troops on 19 April 1783. (Photo by Timothy J. Doyle, 23 November 2004).
List of Revolutionary War honorees.
WAR OF 1812
This war was also known as the Second American Revolution or "Mr. Madison's War". President James Madison declared war on England on 18 June 1812 after the break down of years of negotiations with England concerning her harassment of American ships. The war continued until the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on 24 December 1814. During the bombardment of Fort McHenry, on 13 September 1814, Francis Scott Key penned the poem that eventually became our National Anthem. The final contest of the war, the Battle of New Orleans was actually concluded after the treaty was signed. The photograph is of the living history organization "Ships Company" during a re-enactment weekend at Hancocks Resolution Park in Pasadena, Anne Arundel County. Maryland. Located on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Patapsco River near Baltimore, Hancocks Resolution was a signal station during the War of 1812. (Photo by Esther Doyle Read, 21 August 2004).
List of War of 1812 honorees.
The Civil War
In January 1861, shortly after the election of Abraham Lincoln to the United States Presidency, the state of South Carolina seceded. It was quickly followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. These eleven states eventually formed the Confederate States of America. On 12 April 1861, South Carolina requested that the Union held Fort Sumter surrender. The commander refused and shots were fired on the fort. Thus began the Civil War. The war continued almost exactly four more years and ended with surrender of the Confederate forces by General Robert E. Lee to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia on 9 April 1865. The photograph is of Burnside Bridge at Antietam National Park in Sharpsburg, Maryland. The battle here is known as "The bloodiest day of the Civil War."(Photo by Esther Doyle Read, 27 September 2004).
List of Civil War honorees.
During the 1890s, Spain was embroiled in conflict with her colony of Cuba. The United States remained neutral in the struggle until 15 May 1898. On that day the U.S.S. Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana Cuba. Although there is some question as to how the explosion actually happened, whether an accident on shipboard or a Spanish bomb, contemporay American newspaper accounts used the incident to whip up popular support for a war with Spain. This was Theodore Roosevelt's "Splendid Little War" and the war of the Rough Riders. The phrase "Remember the Maine" was used by recuirting officers. On 23 April 1898, President McKinley called for 125,000 volunteers and on the 25th the United States formally declared war on Spain. This war was fought on two fronts, in the Caribbean Ocean primarily around Cuba and in the Pacific Ocean around islands such as the Philippines and Guam. During the war the United States acquired Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the island of Guam. The peace treaty was signed 10 December 1898, but was not proclaimed in Spain until 11 April 1899.
List of Spanish American War honorees.
WORLD WAR II
In March 1939, Hiltler invaded Czechoslovakia. Two months later, Germany and Italy became allies. On 3 September 1939, Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany. Again, the United States initially remained a neutral country. Then on 7 December 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. On the 8th, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan. On the 11th, Germany declared war on the United States. In January of 1942, the Germans begin a U-boat offensive along east coast of the United States. On the 26th of the month, the first U.S. troops arrived in Great Britain. On the west coast of the United States, Japanese-Americans were sent to relocation centers in April. Fighting in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters was well underway by the end of the summer. In January 1942, Churchill and Roosevelt met at Casablanca. During the conference, Roosevelt announced the war would end only with Germany's unconditional surrender. On 13 May 1943, German and Italian troops surrendered in North Africa. During 1944, Germany continued to lose ground in Europe. The D-day landing in Normandy began on 6 June 1944 with the goal of reaching Berlin. This was the beginning of the end for Hitler. He committed suicide on 30 April 1945, Germany surrendered on 2 May 1945. Fighting in the Pacific theater had also been heavy since the beginning of 1942. Between 1943 and 1945, the United States was involved in a series of island hopping invasions. These included the Gilbert and Solomons islands in November 1943, the Marshall islands in February 1944, New Guinea in May 1944, Saipan and the Mariana Islands in June 1944, Guam in July 1944, the Philippines in January 1945, and Iwo Jima in February 1945. On 17 February 1945, the United States was within bombing range of Tokyo and sent bombers to take out military and industrial installations. The invasion of Okinawa began in May of 1945. The Japanesse continued to fight and after the surrender of Germany, President Harry S. Truman made the decision to use the atomic bomb to end the war. On 6 August 1945, Col. Paul W. Tibbets, pilot of the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, took off from Tinian Island. At 8:15 a.m. the bomb was detonated about 1,900 feet above the center of Hiroshima. The Japanese estimated that 72,000 people were killed and 70,000 out of 76,000 buildings in the city were destroyed. Three days later Major Charles W. Sweeney, dropped the second bomb on the city of Nagasaki. The estimated death toll was 25,680. Forty-four percent of the city was destroyed. On 15 August 1945, the Emperor announced Japan's unconditional surrender. Formal surrender ceremonies were held on the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.
The photograph is of the
U.S.S. Wisconsin, a sister ship of the U.S.S. Missouri. Her keel was laid 25 January 1941, she was launced 7 December 1943 and was commissioned 16 April 1944. She served in the Pacific theater during the war. She is currently docked in Norfolk, Virginia. (Photograph Esther Doyle Read, 10 April 2004). List of World War II honorees.
In the early morning hours of 25 June 1950 the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Army (DPRK - North Korea) opened fire on the Republic of Korea Army (ROK - South Korea) positions south of the 38th Parallel, the line then serving as the border between the two countries. The United Natons Security Council passed a resolution calling for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of North Korean forces to north of the 38th Parallel. The North Koreans ignored the U.N. The following day, President Harry S. Truman authorized General Douglas MacArthur to do what was necessay to prevent the fall of Seoul. On 30 June MacArthur received permission to use U.S. ground support forces and to carry the war into North Korea and the waters offshore, but to stay well back from the Manchurian and Soviet borders. On 7 July 1950, the U.N. Command was created with General MacArthur in charge. The war did not go well for U.N. troops and they continued to fall back along the Korean Peninsula. By January 1951, Seoul had been abandoned. However, General Matthew Ridgeway was able to stablize the U.N. line at the 37th parallel during the month of January. On 18 March, the U.N. troops had re-taken Seoul. U.N. forces pressed north over the next few months and were ordered to halt on 13 June 1951 to wait for armistice negotiations. These began at Kaesong on 10 July. However, bloody fighting continued into July of 1953. Forty-six percent of all American casualties were sustained between mid-1951 and the Cease Fire, which was signed 27 July 1953. In all, 54,246 Americans died during the Korean War; 33,652 were killed in action. In addition, 228,000 South Korean soldiers and untold numbers of civilians died, as did 717 Turkish soldiers, 1,109 soldiers of the United Kingdom, and many other UN volunteers. Over 110,000 American were wounded and MIA. Over 53,000 ROK and UN troops, including over 8,000 Americans, are still MIA.
The photograph is of the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the mall in Washington D.C. It is located between the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. There are 19 stainless steel statues. Each between seven feet three inches and seven feet six inches in height, weighing nearly 1000 pounds a piece. There are 15 Army, 2 Marines, 1 Navy Medic, and 1 Air Force Observer. (Photograph by Esther Doyle Read, 27 April 2004).
In the summer of 1950, the Truman administration sent the first U.S. shipment of arms to the French in Vietnam. Five year later (12 February 1955) the Eisenhower administration sent the first U.S. advisers to South Vietnam. On 13 May 1961, President Kennedy ordered 100 Special Forces troops to South Vietnam. The build-up of troops in Vietnam continued through the early 1960s. On 7 August 1964, the United States Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which called for "All necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States" and further to "assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asian Collective Defense Treaty (SEATO) requesting assistance." Early on 7 February 1965, the Viet Cong launched a guerilla assault against the military barracks at Pleiku where US military advisors were housed. President Johnson ordered a retaliatory air-strike against North Vietnam the next day. Operation "Rolling Thunder" began in mid-February and lasted for the next three years. In March 1965, President Johnson announced major troop increases and the bombing of North Vietnam. Opposition to the war began to mount at home and major congressional leaders began to support the anti-war movement. On 30 January 1968, North Vietnam began the Tet Offensive which escalated into one of the major battles of the war. A month and a half later, the My Lai Massacre took place. President Johnson announced, on 31 March, that he would not seek re-election. He ordered bombing halted north of the 20th Parallel (this included about three quarters of North Vietnam). Six months later he announced that all bombing of North Vietnam would stop on 1 November. This bombing halt lasted until 15 April 1972. However, bombing "sorties" were shifted to Laos on 1 November and continued into 1972. By the end of 1968, 38 percent of all U.S. troops in Vietnam were drafted (over 12 percent of all draftees were college graduates). On 18 January 1969, expanded peace talks opened in Paris with representatives of the United States, North and South Vietnam and the National Liberation Front (NLF). October 15th 1969 was "Vietnam Moratorium Day." an estimated 1 million Americans across the country participated in anti-war demonstrations and peace vigils. On 26 November, the "draft lottery" system bill was signed into law by President Nixon. Under the new law the period of eligibility was reduced from seven years to one year, beginning on a young man's 19th birthday. On 1 December, the first draft lottery in 27 years was held. Five months later in Ohio, on 4 May 1970, 4 Kent State college students were shot to death by Ohio National Guardsmen during an anti-war protest on the campus, this led to nation-wide protests. On 24 June 1971 the Mansfield Amendment was passed along with the draft extension bill. This amendment set policy for withdrawing troops from Indochina at the "earliest practical date." On 27 April 1972, the Paris Peace talks, which had stalled, were resumed. In December, the talks stopped due to a change in the Communist's position. The heaviest US bombing of North Vietnam of the war was then initiated until the north agreed to return to the table. On 8 January 1973, the final stage of peace talks began, culminating in the signing of a Vietnam cease fire on 27 January. On 23 January, President Nixon announced an agreement "to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and South East Asia." On 29 April 1975, the last American soldier was killed in Vietnam. The official U.S. presence in Saigon came to an end as the last Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. Embassy roof. With the departure of the Americans, Saigon fell to the Viet Cong. All throughout this conflict, "War" was never officially declared by the United States. The November 1993 database contains the names of 58,169 individuals killed in action during the war.
The photograph is of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, located on the mall in Washington D.C.. (Photograph by Esther Doyle Read, 27 April 2004).
List of Vietnam War honorees.
THE FIRST GULF WAR
On 8 February 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. In July, Saudi Arabia asked for U.S. troops. The troops arrived on 8 September. Sadam Hussein declared jihad against the U.S. the following month. The United States built a coalition of Nations to confront Iraq over the coming months, while the U.N. tried to engage Iraq in a peaceful solution. Talks between the U.N. and Iraq fell apart in September 1991. On 1 December 1991, Congress authorized the first President Bush to wage war. On 17 January 1991 Operation Desert Storm began. The war lasted a little over a month, ending on 27 February 1991, when President Bush announced that Kuwait was liberated.
The photograph is of the
U.S.S. Wisconsin. She first saw service during World War I and continued to serve throughout the late twentieth century. Her last serevice was during the First Gulf War, when she was fitted with Tomahawk Missles. List of First Gulf War honorees. The WAR in AFGAHNISTAN and the WAR in IRAQ A direct result of the attacks on New York, the Pentagon in northern Virginia, and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 11 September 2001. The conflict is still on-going as of this writing. List of "Second Gulf War" honorees.View of Washington, D.C. and Arlington National Cemetery from the lawn of Arlington House, home of General Robert E. Lee. On the left is memorial drive which extends from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. across the Potomac River to the Women in Military Service for America Memorial located at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery (Photo by Timothy J. Doyle, 28 December 2003).
List of Other Service honorees.
This web design site was produced
by Timothy Doyle 5/5/98,
Questions regarding content should be directed to Esther Doyle Read