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.
Thanksgiving dinner isn’t always at a table. For our troops, Thanksgiving may be celebrated in a foxhole. This soldier eats some holiday turkey during the Italian campaign of World War II. Image: NARA
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.
U.S. Marines enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner during the Korean War. Commanders did their best to ensure a taste of home for as many men as possible to keep morale up. Image: U.S. Marine Corps
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.
U.S.A.F. Master Sgt. Michael Rollins, 447th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron (ERS), serves a hearty Thanksgiving meal to military personnel at Baghdad International Airport (IAP), Iraq. Image: NARA
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.
Program of the Thanksgiving Day 1898 entertainment on board the USS New York (CA-2). Image: U.S. Navy
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.
After receiving permission from the farm owner, these U.S. soldiers stationed at the Norfolk, England air base invade a turkey pen to find Thanksgiving dinner in 1943. Image: NARA
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.
Cooks from the Task Force Ripper mess hall prepare to serve Thanksgiving Day dinner at the 1st Marine Division combat operations center (COC) during Operation Desert Shield in 1990. Image: NARA
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.
In 1987, an air controlman eats his Thanksgiving dinner while keeping an eye on the radar scope in the helicopter direction center aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Okinawa (LPH 3). Image: NARA Thanksgiving Day celebrations on board the USS Charleston (C-2) in November 1893, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Image: U.S. Navy U.S. Marines sit in the sand to eat their Thanksgiving Day dinners in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield. Image: NARA This wounded American soldier had Thanksgiving dinner in bed provided by the American Red Cross. Photo taken at American Military Hospital No. 1 at Neuilly, 1918. Image: Library of Congress Crew members attend Thanksgiving Day religious services on the after deck of the USS Santa Fe (CL-60), during the Gilberts campaign in November 1943. Image: NARA President Donald J. Trump talks with U.S. troops during a 2019 Thanksgiving meal at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. Image: Shealah Craighead/Official White House Photograph This sketch shows a Thanksgiving celebration in a Union Army camp during the Civil War. It was sketched on November 28, 1861 by Alfred R. Waud U.S. Marines eat Thanksgiving dinner aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) in 1984. Image: PHAN David L. Miller/U.S. Navy Lt. Col. W.W. Stickney, U.S.M.C., the commanding officer, cuts a Thanksgiving cake with a Japanese officer’s sword at Guadalcanal, as hungry Leathernecks look on. Image: U.S. Marine Corps It’s not all Turkey and stuffing. In this Vietnam War photo, Marines fire a 105mm M101 howitzer in support of 1/1 “E” Company 2/12 near Con Thien on Thanksgiving Day 1967. Image: U.S. Marine Corps USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) aircraft are prepared for a 1952 Thanksgiving Day strike against the communists in North Korea. In the foreground are Grumman F9F Panther jets. Image: U.S. Navy In 1990, comedian Jay Leno entertains U.S. military personnel on Thanksgiving Day. Leno was part of a USO tour during Operation Desert Shield. Image: NARA U.S. soldiers play baseball on Thanksgiving Day 1943. The men were stationed at an air base at Chabua, Upper Assam, India during World War II. Image: NARA Aboard the battleship USS North Dakota (BB-29), sailors climb an obstacles during Thanksgiving Day festivities in 1919. Image: U.S. Navy In 1987, a mess management specialist puts turkeys in the oven for Thanksgiving dinner aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Okinawa (LPH-3), Image: NARA President George W. Bush helps serve Thanksgiving dinner to U.S. soldiers at the Bob Hope Dining Facility in 2003. The dining hall was located in Baghdad International Airport, Iraq. Image: NARA A Thanksgiving Day menu for a dinner held at the Marine Barracks, Parris Island, South Carolina on November 30, 1916. Image: U.S. Marines With a Jeep for an altar and Manchurian Hills for a backdrop, Chaplain Burgess P. Riddle conducts Thanksgiving Day services on the banks of the frozen Yalu River at Hyesanjin, North Korea. Image: Jack Walsh/NARA Men of the First Marine Air Wing celebrate Thanksgiving in 1943 with a mostly traditional feast. Image: U.S. Marine Corps Wounded in combat, Pfc. Jack Newman, U.S.M.C., is assisted by a U.S. Navy nurse with Thanksgiving dinner. They were aboard the USS Repose (AH-16) at Inchon, South Korea. Image: U.S. Navy The 1st Marine Division introduced this British soldier to an American Thanksgiving dinner during Operation Desert Shield. Image: NARA U.S. troops have Thanksgiving dinner during the Philippine-American War in 1899. They were stationed at Pasay near outer Manila. Image: NARA Shown is the cover of a program for a Thanksgiving day football game between the 4th Marine and 6th Marine regiments. Image: U.S. Marine Corps In 1946, Women’s Army Corps (WAC) Colonel Westray Battle Boyce shares a Thanksgiving dinner with two German orphans in Frankfurt, Germany. Image: NARA A Thanksgiving turkey is prepared for the members of the 5th Marine Regiment near Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. A few days later, these Marines would be in a fight for their lives against the communist Chinese in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Image: Sgt. F. C. Kerr/NARA Surrounded by family members, Specialist Elijah Cooley and his unit returned home on Thanksgiving after a 12 month deployment to Iraq. Image: NARA
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