America's Forgotten Wars

As a long-time student of history, I've been intrigued by the fact that some conflicts like the Civil War and World War II have received an immense amount of coverage in literature, film and even music- while others like the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War, Korea and Vietnam have received little by comparison. There are likely two reasons for this: 1) these other conflicts (War of 1812, Mexican-American and Spanish-American War) were relatively short-lived by comparison and 2) some of these wars (Korea and Vietnam) did not end favorably for the U.S. Despite this discrepancy in coverage by the media, there are some important lessons to be learned from all these conflicts.

First known photo of flag, 1873

The War of 1812 came foremost to my attention one day two years ago when I was visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. where I saw an American icon- the Star-Spangled Banner on display. For the first time I noticed that there was a star "missing" from the flag. Indeed, when you view the banner- and photographs of it dating back to 1873 (when the first known photograph of it was taken), you'll see that there is a very large gap in the bunting. A small plaque next to the Smithsonian exhibit states that "the 15th star has never been found". There were actually 18 states in the Union as the war was raging, but Congress had only approved a national flag with 15 stars at that time. Nonetheless, this mystery intrigued me enough to start doing research on this long-forgotten war which generated not only the flag which has become revered by all Americans- but also the poem turned into a song which later became our National Anthem. By the 1940's, due to the efforts of Veterans and other patriotic groups around the country, the flag and the song became inseparable, now sung patriotically at ballparks and thousands of venues around the United States. The topic yielded much of interest and energized me to write my latest historical novel "The Forgotten Star" which delves into this conflict and true-life mysteries surrounding the Star-Spangled Banner.

Korean War Memorial

What about the other wars which have faded in our collective memories? The Spanish-American War resulted in adding an enormous quantity of real estate to the country, nearly doubling the size of the United States and adding trillions of dollars of mineral resources and land later used to enable us to become self-sufficient in farming and a supplier of food to the world. The Spanish-American War generated a hero- Teddy Roosevelt, riding up San Juan Hill- who later became President and spoke loudly with a big stick to the rest of the world. Korea and Vietnam are a bit more problematical. The reasons for these conflicts were not well understood by most Americans. President Truman nobly tried to halt the advance of Communism in Korea, working in vain to stop another "domino" from falling, but the war went so poorly, he declined to run for re-election in 1952. In the following decade, Vietnam was an eerie reflection of what happened previously. With weekly casualty counts and flag-draped coffins returning home via Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Americans were becoming weary of a war they didn't fully comprehend. Riots in the streets and flag burnings around the country didn't help any- and in 1968, LBJ announced what Truman did 16 years before- that he would not run for re-election. Both men knew they would have lost and wisely took the road to retirement.

Vietnam War Memorial

Soldiers returned proudly from Korea, but re-entered a country where people didn't always appreciate why they went to fight in the first place. It was even worse for soldiers coming home from Vietnam. Due to atrocities committed by a few, many brave men and women were derided as "baby killers" and murderers when they set foot again on American soil- land they vowed to defend against all enemies for the sake of those who would later scold them for their efforts. Yet, despite the controversies surrounding these two wars, there is no doubt that the men and women who served did so nobly, bravely... in the proud tradition of all who went before them. In the movie "Forrest Gump", the main character- a simple man who fought in vietnam is reminiscing about his days fighting in the jungles, the buddies he lost, the sadness he endured. he says "You know, I think some of America's finest men fought in that war..."

My book "The Forgotten Star" is dedicated to all our Veterans, especially those who fought in the forgotten wars of Korea and Vietnam. My new lecture series beginning in January 2013 will focus on the War of 1812 as well as those from all other coflicts who fought bravely to defend us all. As artist Bernard Perlin (now 94 years old) depicted in his painting "Americans Will Always Fight For Liberty" (made into a poster for the war effort during World War II)- we should always remember the millions of men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice and also those who did return home... home to a place where we can greet them on the street and say "Thank you, soldier. Job well done." Freedom isn't free- just ask a Marine.