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Remembering those whose call to serve shaped a nation By Salena Zito
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An estimated 41 million Americans have served in the U.S. military during conflicts and wars since 1776.
That amounts to about 7 percent of the total population preserving the liberty and freedoms of the other 93 percent of us.
Richard Baker, a retired Army master sergeant and historian who leads the research team at the Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, wants to thank you and your ancestors who have served among this “Magnificent Seven,” as he calls them.
Henry Peiffer was 24 when he enlisted in the northern army to preserve the Union. He and his brother, Levi, mustered into service at Harrisburg — in Company I, 201st Regiment, a volunteer infantry.
Henry was married with two young boys, nine months apart in age, when he enlisted; census data show he was a laborer.
No account exists as to why he volunteered; one would love to imagine he was caught up in patriotic determination. But poverty in Dauphin County was real in the 1860s, so finances could have played a part.
His regiment was stationed in Chambersburg, then sent to Manassas Junction, Va. He and his brother were honorably discharged in June 1865 after the war ended.
Henry's fortunes fell after the war: He and his young wife, Amelia, divorced; he lived in a poorhouse for a time. By the turn of the century, though, he had become a prosperous man, remarried, owned several hundred acres of prime Central Pennsylvania farmland and a livery business.
Whatever demons he carried from his rise from poverty apparently touched his sons; both committed suicide in Pittsburgh after failed business ventures. Henry died in 1916, having outlived his two sons and second wife — but not his first wife (my great-great-grandmother) or his grandson (my grandfather) with whom she lived on Pittsburgh's North Side until my grandfather (also named Henry) reached age 18.
Between April 1861 and April 1865, at least 2.5 million men served in the Union Army, the majority volunteers. For some of us who never served our country in uniform, what draws someone to the military remains a profound mystery.
Yes, some were driven by poverty, but that does not mean they didn't have that same quiet pride of most veterans when they reflect on why they enlisted, why they stayed on, and how the military shaped them.
My uncles all served in World War II. We listened at their knees as they shared experiences, from the Battle of the Bulge to the Pacific theater; with childish awe and terror, we imagined them as young men, covered in mud, firing guns, protecting our country.
To many of my generation, these men were “regular guys” who worked as laborers during the day, had a drink after work with boyhood friends, rarely moved far from the homes in which they grew up, and dedicated their weekends to tinkering or spending time with those beloved homes and the families they cherished.
Many young people today do not share such connections with a service member; in all likelihood, they don't know anyone who has served. According to the Defense Manpower Data Center, approximately 1.4 million people are serving in the U.S. Armed Forces — about a half a percent of our population.
But that doesn't mean young people do not have a connection with someone who served, as I discovered when the Army Heritage and Education Center's historical research placed me face-to-face with a young Henry Peiffer, who posed for his portrait when he enlisted in the northern army.
Looking at his face, I see my grandfather all over again.
Stone sentinels of forgotten military men jut out from rolling grassy hills all across this country, some of which have not seen a single visitor kneel at graveside for more than a century. All are part of the fabric of who we are as a country, and who you are as a person.
On this Memorial Day, think not only of the men and women who have served in our current wars but also those who shaped this country and shaped us as people, families and communities for more than 250 years.
Their stories should not be forgotten.
Click here for the full story.
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