{"id":150816,"date":"2023-12-15T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T13:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=150816"},"modified":"2023-12-14T22:57:40","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T03:57:40","slug":"valor-friday-255","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=150816","title":{"rendered":"Valor Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

I talked a while back about French Private Jean Thurel<\/a>. He was an 18th Century soldier in the French Army, who lived to be 108 years old. He spent more than 75 of his years as a soldier, earning three long service medals (the only man to have done so) and was knighted into the Legion of Honor by Napoleon Bonaparte personally. Thinking back on this, it made me wonder about who America\u2019s longest serving soldiers and sailors were.<\/p>\n

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Winfield Scott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perhaps one of the best-known long service cases in American history is that of General Winfield Scott. He was the Commanding General of the United States Army for more than 20 years (1841-1861), under an astonishing seven United States Presidents.<\/p>\n

Scott started his service in the Virginia Militia in 1807 before scoring a commission into the regular Army the following year in the expansion of the service in the lead up to the War of 1812. Before the war, Scott was court martialed at one point for a $50 in an account under his charge, then fought in a duel with a medical officer he believed had initiated the court martial. During the war though, Scott distinguished himself and, in 1814 was promoted to brigadier general at just 28 years old. He also received a Congressional Gold Medal, at the time the highest honor afforded military officers. It remains one of the highest civil awards of the US Government.<\/p>\n

Badly wounded in the war, Scott remained in the service post-war. He would negotiate the end to the Black Hawk War, serve in several other Indian War conflicts, and, even though he was the top ranking officer in the Army (and thus an administrator), led troops in several successful battles during the Mexican-American War.<\/p>\n

In 1855, Scott, a substantive major general in rank, was made a brevet lieutenant general. He was the first man to hold that rank in the US Army since George Washington. His career ended when he retired in 1861, as President Lincoln increasingly sidelined him in favor of George McClellan as his chief military advisor. He\u2019d spent 54 years in service to his country.<\/p>\n

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Charles Stewart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the naval side of things, Charles Stewart was the Navy\u2019s first admiral, longest serving officer, and one of the oldest officers ever on active duty. Stewart\u2019s career began in 1798 at 19 years old, but he was already an experienced sailor, having first gone to sea as a cabin boy at age 13.<\/p>\n

Working his way up the ranks from cabin boy, he became the master of a merchantman before getting one of the first commissions into the rebirthed United States Navy. After the Revolutionary War, the US had no standing Navy or Army, but the Quasi-War with France was demonstrating the need for at least some professional armed forces in the nascent republic.<\/p>\n

He soon took command of a schooner and earned a reputation as a capable commander, capturing several enemy vessels and repatriating several American ships. He was made a captain in 1806, which at the time was the highest rank in the Navy, before leaving active service in favor of the merchant fleet.<\/p>\n

During the War of 1812 Stewart returned to federal service. He commanded several of America\u2019s premier warships, including taking USS Constitution into battle. Constitution remains on active service today as the nation\u2019s oldest warship, and is the second oldest warship in the world still in commissioned service.<\/p>\n

At the end of the war, before either side had received word, Captain Stewart commanded \u201cOld Ironsides\u201d in a spectacular victory against two British warships, capturing them both. For this he received a Congressional Gold Medal (the highest award of the US Government at the time).<\/p>\n

Post-war, Stewart was made a commodore and saw service in South America and the Pacific. Commodore at the time was an appointment. \u201cAdmiral\u201d was too British imperial for the Americans, so we didn\u2019t have admirals as a matter of policy. Instead, senior captains would be made commodores, whose duties were essentially those of a rear admiral in other navies (and in later American service).<\/p>\n

In 1851 he became, by the death of the senior officer above him, the service\u2019s senior-most captain. In 1859, Congress made Stewart the Navy\u2019s \u201csenior flag officer.\u201d This was an admiral\u2019s appointment in practice, but without the title.<\/p>\n

With the Navy\u2019s expansion for the Civil War, the US for the first time created actual admirals. Though he\u2019d retired in 1861, Stewart was made the service\u2019s first rear admiral (on the retired list) in 1862. In a career that spanned more than 60 years, Steward was a captain for 52 years and 10 months, the longest any American officer has held a single rank.<\/p>\n

In the 20th Century, several other officers would give Scott and Stewart a run for their money. First, it\u2019s worth noting that all of the five star officers promoted during and shortly after World War II were officially on active duty for life. While they retired from active service, they remained on active duty at full pay and benefits until their death. Only Eisenhower resigned his five star rank when he became President (the POTUS can\u2019t also be an active member of the military), but his rank was reinstated after he left office by an Act of Congress.<\/p>\n

Among the five star officers were;<\/p>\n