Born in conflict of the Revolutionary War, America's success is built squarely upon her veterans. Today 26.4 million veterans help form her character and reflect the ideals of service. They make up 13 percent of all Americans (civilian) 18 and over.
Comprising one in eight U.S. adults, veterans are not just our grandfathers and graybeards. They're you and me — husbands, wives, neighbors and co-workers. In fact, just 37 percent of U.S. veterans are 65 and older. Six percent are women. They comprise almost 22.6 million Caucasians, 2.6 million African Americans, 1.1 million Hispanics, 284,000 Asian Americans and 196,000 Native Americans. America's veteran population represents all her peoples.
More than half of today's veterans have served during time of war or hostilities. One in five (6 million) served in World War II, one in six (4 million) served in Korea and one in three (8 million) served during Vietnam. Three million have served since 1990 during years of the Gulf War, peacekeeping actions in Eastern Europe, operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and the war on terror.
Many veterans served in more than one war — 384,000 served during World War II and the Korean War, 328,000 served during both the Vietnam era and the Gulf War, 274,000 served during both the Korean War and Vietnam War and 161,000 served during WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
Today, we look at the young men and women of our military as an extension of America's freedom, fighting the war on terrorism around the world. We recognize their sacrifice, not only to be away from home and family but also in the sacrifice of body and of life itself, to underwrite our freedoms.
America is blessed to have such brave men and women living within her borders, and a few states are privileged to count more than a million veterans among their citizens. They include California with 2.6 million veterans, Florida with 1.9 million veterans, Texas with 1.8 million veterans, New York with 1.4 million veterans, Pennsylvania with 1.3 million veterans, Ohio with 1.1 million and Illinois with 1 million veterans. Veterans comprise more than 15 percent of the adult populations of Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
Douglas Wadsworth is the director of Veterans Affairs for Utah, Idaho and Montana.