Veterans Day

November 11th, 2026

It’s Veterans Day, so how many are there? Since our nation’s birth, 250 years ago, some 642 - 644 million people have called themselves Americans. And of that total, an estimated 41.9 million had served in uniform through the end of Desert Storm - the last count produced by the Veteran’s Administration. But the numbers are estimates, and there are still some gaps in accurate counts through the years. And roughly 8.3 million more have served since 1991, for a rough total of 50.3, or about 7.8% of all Americans.

Of that total number, there are between 15.8 and 17.9 million living veterans (depending on who is counting), about 5.3% of the total population.

And as for casualties, the numbers are also incomplete, with 1,308,468+ dead and 1,452,040+ wounded. Both are commonly marked with a “+” to recognize that there are missing counts of dead and wounded and these numbers mark the minimum numbers, meaning that 5.5% of all who have served have been killed or wounded. 

It seems to often be the case that on Veterans Day we remember those who served in the great wars, the Civil War, the World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, the seemingly never ending wars in the Mid East. But we forget the many times we have had “troops in contact” in forgotten places, and often, forgotten times. But to the Soldiers or Sailors (and when I say that I mean every Marine, Soldier, Sailor, Coast Guardsmen, or Guardian - or, as a friend pointed out many Merchant Marine), that particular fight they were in, forgotten though it may be, was every bit as real as D-Day or the fight for the Slot in the Solomons or any other battle. That arrow passing over their heads, or that round, that crowded hour, that seeing the elephant, that was and is so very real no matter where it  was encountered…

One such case was the fighting at Nuka Hiva.

Captain David Porter was one the US Navy’s great officers. His career (which includes a court martial!), reads like a dime-store novel. And he had what sometimes are called good genes: his son David Dixon Porter, the 2nd admiral in the US Navy, was perhaps the essential “secret sauce,” the final element in Grant’s victory at Vicksburg and the Union taking control of the Mississippi River. Porter’s great grandson David Dixon Porter II, retired as a MGEN in the Marines, and was a recipient of both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal and the Medal of Honer, received for his actions on Samar. The fighting on Samar was so violent, so savage, so difficult that to be singled out for bravery on Samar is difficult to imagine, never mind put into words.

David Porter was born in Boston in 1780, joined the Navy in 1798 and was a midshipmen on Constellation during the French Quasi War, and was onboard when Constellation, Captain Truxton, captured L’Insurgente February 1799, Midshipmen Porter being noted for his quick action in cutting away spars and thereby preventing the loss of the fore topmast.

In 1812, just 2 weeks after the start of the War of 1812, Porter was given command of USS Essex (32 guns), built in Salem, Massachusetts. He immediately headed towards the Caribbean to prowl against British shipping, but not before  complaining to Secretary of the Navy Hamilton that his ship was armed with 26 x 32 pound carronades, short-barreled guns that were quite inaccurate beyond a few hundred yards, and only 6 x “Long 12s.” If the ship lost any rigging or spars it would be unable to outrun an enemy and yet unable to fight because the other ships could stand off and pick it apart with its long guns. Porter did not get any more long guns from Hamilton.

One note of interest, on board Essex was 11 year old midshipman David Farragut - who would become the first admiral in the US Navy.

Despite the lack of an adequate number of long guns, Porter took a British merchant ship near Bermuda July 11th, took the Royal Navy sloop HMS Alert on August 13th, and by the time he returned to New York he had taken 10 ships. He then put out for the coast of Brazil, took several more prizes, including a Royal Post Office packet, and then headed around the Horn, and arrived at Valparaiso on March 14th, the first US Navy ship to enter the Pacific.

Porter went hunting for British whalers and between April and September captured a dozen whalers and took 360 prisoners. One of the ships was Atlantic, originally a small French frigate, captured by the Royal Navy, and sold, and turned into a whaler. Porter renamed her “Essex Junior” and the two ships patrolled the Pacific together, with nine of his prizes, two of the prizes having been turned over to the captured crews and sailed back to England with the paroled English sailors.

On October 25th Essex and Essex Junior put into Nuka Hiva, in the Marquesas Islands to carry out some repairs on the ships, particularly Essex.

The Marquesas are a long way away from everywhere: about 850 miles north-east of Tahiti, 3,000 miles south-west of Mexico, and perhaps 3,500 miles west of Peru. The Marquesas are in two distinct groupings, the southern Marquesas, clustered around the island of Hiva ‘Oa, and the northern group, clustered around Nuka Hiva.

Herman Melville’s “Typee” was written based on his experiences while living on Nuka Hiva. The island is roughly triangular in shape, with multiple bays on the north and south side, but no bays on the west coat. A 4,000 foot mountain dominates the island, with a number of deep, jungle-covered valleys reaching into the interior.

Porter landed and made contact with the Ta’is, and began construction of a small town (he later called it Madisonville, after President Madison), and set about to build a small naval base - technically the US’s first base in the Pacific - to repair his ships.

Among the work completed on the ships, the crew scraped the copper bottoms of the ships and then smoked the ships, to force the rats out. Reportedly more than 1,000 rats were smoked out of Essex.

In return for the land for the small colony, the Chief of the Ta’is asked for help against the Happah, another tribe on the island. Porter agreed and sent his XO, LT Downes, and Marine Lt John Gamble, and a platoon of nearly 40 Marines to assist the Ta’is chief. The Happah’s attacked, there was a volley of musket fire, the Happah’s broke… and the Ta’is proceeded to kill the Happah wounded. 

LT Downes was reportedly pleased that the Ta’is did not eat the dead enemy, just used their bones for decorations.

The Happah’s then sued for peace, and agreed to fight with the Ta’is and the Americans if necessary. Shortly thereafter, the TaiPi (Melville’s Typee, the third tribe or clan on the island) then decided to go to war against all three: the Ta’is, the Happahs and the Americans. 

The Ta’is and the Happah’s convinced Porter to attack the TaiPi rather than wait for any attack. Porter did, leading what was the largest US amphibious operation in the Pacific in the 19th century. Porter’s two ships, more than 200 war canoes, and nearly 5,000 Ta’is and Happahs conducted an unopposed landing and advanced on the TaiPi redoubt. They made it into the TaiPi position but the Ta’is and Happahs chose that moment to leave the field and Porter, with just 35 men, and running low on ammunition, was pushed back to the beach. 

Porter regrouped and several days later led a second attack, over land, with all of his Marines and most of his sailors, as well as some Ta’is and Happahs. He circled the TaiPi town and attacked it from the heights above - though he was forced to wait two days to let his gunpowder dry after heavy rains. The TaiPi still managed to ambush Porter’s men and only after intense fighting did his force push through and force the TaiPi to withdraw. The TaiPi agreed to some sort to terms and there was something approaching a - temporary - peace on the island. Porter was able to finish the repairs on his ships.

Later, when accused in the British press of murder, Porter replied:

"Many may censure my conduct as wanton and unjust.... But let such reflect on our peculiar situation--a handful of men residing among numerous war-like tribes, liable every moment to be attacked by them and all cut off; our only hopes on safety was in convincing them of our great superiority over them and from what we have already seen, we must either attack them or be attacked.... Wars are not always just, and are rarely free from excesses--my conscience acquits me of any injustice, and no excesses were committed but what the Typees had in their power to stop by ceasing hostilities.”

In all, 5 Americans were killed, as well as what is estimated to be several hundred men from the three tribes. 

We live in a world of seemingly instant communication, yet, even in the modern world, with instant global communications, it is still a simple truth that a small unit can easily find themselves in a situation for which there is no textbook answer, and explaining it accurately to higher headquarters - 5,000 miles away - simply isn’t possible. 

And, to the 250 Sailors and 40 Marines of Porter’s command, they were literally months away from any possible relief. It was as if they were fighting on Mars. Even if someone wanted to come to their aid, they were months and months away. And no one even knew to come to their aid. They were on their own.

In a certain sense, what Captain David Porter went through from October 1813 through May 1814 is not as far removed as we might imagine. 

And to the Sailors and Marines who were following Porter’s orders, I suspect it was no more or less confusing than those that many sailors and Marines and Soldiers and Airman and Coast Guardsmen - and probably some Guardians have found themselves in since. Remember them all… those 250 Sailors and 50 Marines, and particularly the five who died, on a distant island, defending our nation.