Articles by Steven Gilchrist

W orld War II was the most destructive war in human history.   The United States played an integral role in defeating the Axis powers during the war. Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., The World War II Memorial pays tribute to the 16 million Americans who served in the United States military during the Second World War.   Of those 16 million who served, 400,000 died.   The Memorial is also dedicated to the supporters of the American soldiers who fought in the war. The war was fought across six continents and all of the world’s oceans.   “It killed 50 million human beings, left hundreds of millions of others wounded in mind and body…,” British historian John Keegan wrote concerning WWII.    In 1987, the concept of the memorial was first introduced by Ohio congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.   However, construction for the memorial did not begin until 2001 and the dedication was on May 29, 2004.   Friedrich St. Florian designed the ...

T wenty-eight years ago, one of the deadliest events in U.S. military history occurred.   On the morning of October 23, 1983 in Beirut, Lebanon, a suicide bomber drove a yellow Mercedes truck into the U.S. Marine Corps base at Beirut International Airport.   The truck was filled with 12,000 pounds of explosive materials.   The explosion decimated the four-story military base.   The attack killed a total of 241 U.S. service members: 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel, and 3 Army soldiers.   At the time of the attack, there were 1,600 Marines in Lebanon serving as neutral peacekeepers for ongoing tension in the Middle East.   According to the FBI, the attack was (at the time) the biggest non-nuclear explosion since World War II.      “For Americans, Beirut was a seminal moment on a timeline that led to the 9/11 attacks, Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond.   It was a first shot in a clash with a militant, fundamentalist Islam – exemplified by groups...

T he month of November is recognized as National Diabetes Month.   Diabetes affects 25.8 million Americans, about 8.3% of the U.S. population.   Diabetes is a disease that causes blood glucose levels to be above normal.   Most of the food people eat is turned into glucose or sugar which the body uses for energy.   The pancreas creates a hormone called insulin to help glucose travel throughout cells within the body.   When a person has diabetes their body does not produce enough insulin or cannot use its own insulin as well as it should.      Approximately 79 million Americans have pre-diabetes which puts them at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.   According to the American Diabetes Association, if current trends in health care continue then 1 out of 3 children born in the U.S. today, will eventually face a future with diabetes.   Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.   In addition to being one of ...