Month: December 2020

National Guard Heroes You Should Know

Wish a Happy Birthday to the National Guard on December 13

While you might not think of the National Guard when you think of American military forces, you really should! The National Guard is unique in that it serves both community and country. Members of the National Guard face deployments overseas just like other branches of the military, and must still undergo rigorous training; boot camp is the very same as that provided for the U.S. Army.

Meet some National Guard Heroes you should know as we observe the National Guard’s birthday this month.

Tammy Duckworth

After serving in the United States Army Reserve, Tammy Duckworth transferred to the Army National Guard in Illinois in 1996. In 2004, she was deployed to Iraq. On November 12, 2004, she lost both her legs when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade launched by Iraqi insurgents. Duckworth received a Purple Heart, an Air Medal, and an Army Commendation Medal. She retired from the Illinois Army National Guard in 2014, as a lieutenant colonel. Currently, Tammy Duckworth is serving as a United States Senator for Illinois. 

Tulsi Gabbard

While serving in the Hawaii State Legislature, Tulsi Gabbard enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003. A year later, she was deployed to Iraq and was shortly thereafter commissioned as a second lieutenant before being deployed to Kuwait in 2008. For her service, Gabbard received the Combat Medical Badge and the Meritorious Service Medal. She was promoted to major in 2015. Gabbard currently serves as the U.S. Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district.

Charles Lindbergh

American aviator Charles Lindbergh was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserves, during which time he received the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration, for completing the first non-stop transatlantic flight between New York City and Paris. Before making history, he was a U.S. Air Mail pilot. When the Army no longer needed more active-duty pilots, Lindbergh joined the 110th Observation Squadron, 35th Division of the Missouri National Guard, out of St. Louis. He was promoted to captain in 1926.

John William Vessey Jr.

Jack Vessey Jr. was a career officer in the United States Army and served as the tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1982 to 1985, during the Reagan administration. Vessey began his 46-year military career by lying about his age to join the Minnesota Army National Guard. He succeeded, and his unit was deployed during World War II in North Africa and Italy. He served during the Cold War, Vietnam War, and in Korea, until 1979, when he was assigned as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Vessey is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, two Defense Distinguished Service Medals, three Army Distinguished Service Medals, a Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, two Legion of Merit awards, two Bronze Star Medals, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Leonard F. Wing

Red Wing Sr., as he was called, first enlisted in the U.S. Army for World War I and earned the rank of first lieutenant after completing officer training. After World War I, he was discharged in 1918 and established a law practice in Rutland, Vermont. In 1919, Wing joined the Vermont National Guard’s 172nd Infantry Regiment as a second lieutenant and rose through the ranks until he was named colonel in 1933 and brigadier general in 1937 as commander of the 86th Infantry Brigade. Wing’s military awards and honors include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, and Bronze Star. 

Scott Perry

Currently serving as the U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, Scott Perry began his military career in 1980, upon enlisting in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. He was commissioned a second lieutenant after graduating from Pennsylvania’s Officer Candidate School before qualifying as a helicopter pilot. He served a variety of assignments, including during a deployment to Bosnia and Herzegovina between 2002 and 2003. He served in Iraq between 2009 and 2010, during which time he was credited with flying 44 missions and occurring nearly 200 combat flight hours. After serving in Iraq, Perry was promoted to colonel and commanded the garrison at Fort Indiantown Gap National Training Center and was promoted to brigadier general in November 2015. He retired from the Pennsylvania National Guard in 2019. 

Send Love to Your National Guard Hero!

At My Hero Crate, we know that our service members enlisted in the National Guard carry out important missions at home and abroad. They deserve our thanks every day! If you have a loved one in the National Guard, present them with one of our military care packages so they’ll be stocked up on snacks during their guard weekends and all the days in between. If they’re deployed, you can still send them one of our army snack boxes, too – and shipping is always free to FPO, DPO, and APO addresses.

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy: A Pearl Harbor History Lesson

16 Million Americans Were Involved with the U.S. Military During World War II

Anyone alive during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, remembers the emotions they felt upon the realization that a surprise military strike befell a United States naval base in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. At the time, Hawaii was not yet a U.S. state. Join My Hero Crate, purveyors of military care packages, as we retell the history of Pearl Harbor.

A Brief History

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service struck the base with 353 aircraft in two waves to prevent the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its military operations in Southeast Asia. Over seven hours on the same day, the Japanese military also attacked Guam, Philippines, and Wake Island, all under U.S. control; and Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, under British control. On the naval base, eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, and four were sunk, along with three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and a minelayer. A total of 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans lost their lives; and 1,178 others were wounded. 

Later that day, Japan declared war on the United States; the U.S. responded the next day by declaring war on Japan. A few days later on December 11, Germany and Italy each declared war on the United States, who responded in kind. European nations had already been warring after Germany invaded Poland and Russia.


Because the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred without a prior declaration of war and without warning, the events that unfolded that day were later judged as a war crime during the Tokyo Trials. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy.” It also happened to be the day that fully thrust the United States into World War II, called “the war in Europe” or “the emergency” at the time.

American Response

After FDR declared war, Americans went to work. They rationed food and gas; grew victory gardens in their backyards; and collected scrap metal, rubber, and paper to recycle for military use. Americans bought war bonds, donated money toward the war effort, and donated blood to the Red Cross.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, military recruitment offices were filled, after low enlistment plagued American armed forces the previous year. In Birmingham, Alabama, 600 men volunteered for the military within a few hours after the attack. In Boston, recruitment office lines were hours-long. Women, too, responded by wishing to enlist or donate whatever they could for war use. In December 1941, America’s military comprised 2.2 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. By the end of the war, nearly 16 million Americans had served, either after voluntarily enlisting or being drafted.

The Aftermath for Japanese Americans

Throughout World War II, the U.S. government frequently referred to Pearl Harbor through imagery on posters and in publications to stir Americans’ support for the war effort. These messages also roused acceptance for sending Japanese-Americans to high-security internment camps. 

Between 1,200 and 1,800 Japanese-Americans were interned in Hawaii, but more than 110,000 living on the West Coast were forced into the camps. Canada, too, responded similarly, by enacting laws to forcefully remove Canadians of Japanese descent from British Columbia and to send others to internment camps or to work on sugar beet farms as free labor.

The War Ends

Over the course of the following several years, the United States and its allies defeated two empires, and the U.S. became a global superpower. World War II ended on the deck of an American warship, the USS Missouri, on September 2, 1945. The war claimed 60 to 80 million lives, or 3 percent of the world’s population. The majority who died were civilians, including 6 million Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.

Pearl Harbor Today

Today, the USS Arizona Memorial on Oahu, Hawaii, honors those who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The USS Missouri is now moored in Pearl Harbor and serves as a museum. Its bow is barely 1,000 feet southwest of the Arizona memorial. We still acknowledge December 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, although it isn’t a federal holiday, by flying the American flag at half-staff until sunset. 

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 325,574 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II are alive in 2020. Of those 16 million, 1 million were African-Americans; 44,500 were Native Americans; 11,000 were Japanese-Americans; and 250,000 were women. Most of the rest were white males.

Thank a Hero with a Military Care Package

If you know one of these brave Americans who served in the war, thank them for their service. Write them a thoughtful letter, spend quality time with them, or send them a military care package fit for a hero from My Hero Crate.

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