By John J. Meko, Jr.
On September 29, 2024, members of the Union League’s Hearth Club Table met at the chapel on Founding Forward’s 75-acre Valley Forge campus for a short prayer service, presentation, and tour of the Medal of Honor Grove. The service included background on Valley Forge, Gettysburg, and Normandy and three readings, one each from Washington, Lincoln, and Eisenhower. The three readings each speak of the citizen soldier and to the higher cause of the nation.
The citizen soldier first made an appearance in the ancient city-states of Greece, where the world’s first democracies raged war against both each other and against less enlightened, autocratic states. With Athens leading the way, the results were intriguing. Citizens seemed to fight more effectively and, often, more courageously than their less democratic enemies. These citizen soldiers were fighting not for their king but for something more – for freedom, democratic ideals, and for their fellow citizens. The Athenian leader, Pericles, at a public funeral for the war dead in 430 BC, stated, “We are contending for a higher prize than those who enjoy none of these privileges.”
When Washington said this, he had just been appointed commander of the Continental Army. Many in the colonies were fearful of a standing army as they had seen the abuses of the British military towards the “subjects” or citizens in the colonies.
Washington was conveying the idea that the Continental Army soldiers would be different. They would be both soldiers and citizens at the same time, and they would uphold the rule of law and be responsible citizens while simultaneously being soldiers.
Founding Forward’s Medal of Honor Grove on the Valley Forge campus pays special tribute to those citizen soldiers who have been awarded our nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor. This beautiful 42-acre arboretum honors each recipient and is a reminder of the sacrifice required to maintain our republic.
Founding Forward’s Valley Forge location was cherished by Dwight D. Eisenhower, who considered Valley Forge as one of the three most sacred places in American military history, the other two being Gettysburg and Normandy.
Valley Forge is the location of the 1777-78 winter encampment of the Continental Army under the command of George Washington. The Valley Forge encampment lasted six months, from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. Of the 12,000 citizen soldiers that arrived with Washington, only about 10,000 survived. Miraculously, the army that emerged from Valley Forge in the spring of 1778 would be larger and better trained than the army that arrived there. It was the turning point of the American Revolution.
The Washington reading is the last paragraph of his Newburgh Address. The purpose of the speech was to prevent a mutiny among the officers of the army. The basis of the mutiny was rather simple – the army had not been paid, and the prospects of payment looked grim. When Washington heard that the officers planned to meet in Newburgh, New York, to discuss a mutiny – he showed up. He promised them he would do all in his power to help them and then asked them to consider the higher purpose of their sacrifice. The next day, the officers gave their support to Washington and withdrew the threat of a mutiny.
“And let me conjure you, in the name of our common Country–as you value your own sacred honor—as you respect the rights of humanity, & as you regard the Military & national character of America, to express your utmost horror & detestation of the Man who wishes, under any specious pretences, to overturn the liberties of our Country, & who wickedly attempts to open the flood Gates of Civil discord, & deluge our rising Empire in Blood.
By thus determining–& thus acting, you will pursue the plain & direct Road to the attainment of your wishes. You will defeat the insidious designs of our Enemies, who are compelled to resort from open force to secret Artifice. You will give one more distinguished proof of unexampled patriotism & patient virtue, rising superior to the pressure of the most complicated sufferings; And you will, by the dignity of your Conduct, afford occasion for Posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to man kind, “had this day been wanting, the World had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining.” George Washington, March 15, 1783
Gettysburg is the location of the largest and bloodiest battle of the Civil War. It is there that the undefeated General Lee and his Army of Virginia invaded Pennsylvania and met the newly promoted General Meade and the Army of the Potomac. Nearly 160,000 citizen soldiers fought each other outside of Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863. Fifty thousand of them would be casualties. Gettysburg served as the turning point of the American Civil War.
Lincoln read his Gettysburg Address on the occasion of the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg. His brilliant remarks, only 272 words, encapsulate the American Experiment in a concise and moving way. And he expanded on it, making it clear that the Civil War was not just about the Union or just about ending slavery in the United States, but it was a war to continue the hopes and dreams of liberty-seeking people around the world.
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” President Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863
Normandy, France, was the place chosen for the Allied invasion of Europe. The Normandy Campaign was the costliest campaign in American military history, with approximately 135,000 casualties. The success of D-Day and the Normandy Campaign sealed the fate of Nazi Germany and ensured Allied victory.
The Eisenhower reading is from his letter to the Allied Expeditionary Force on the eve of D-Day, June 5, 1944, and is striking in its honesty about the perils that the soldiers and sailors would face. Like the readings from Washington and Lincoln, Eisenhower explains that their sacrifice is larger than they are – that it is a sacrifice for liberty-loving people everywhere.
“Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!
Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.” General Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 6, 1944
From Valley Forge to today, America has relied on its armed forces to remain both professional soldiers and civilians at the same time. The great military leaders in our nation’s history understood that this was essential to our continued form of self-government, and at the same time a great asset when creating an effective military force. For the citizen soldier, citizenship comes first. And for all citizens, civic responsibility must come first. This is why the work of Founding Forward is imperative to inform and engage citizens, grounded in American history.