MFRI offers 10 facts about U.S. armed forces, Purdue military history

As the nation honors its veterans, Purdue's Military Family Research Institute offers these facts about the U.S. armed forces and Purdue's military history.

1. The U.S. Army was established on June 14, 1775 (as the Continental Army). Twenty-five of the country's 43 presidents served in the Army; two earned the rank of five-star general (George Washington and Dwight D. Eisenhower) and one earned the Medal of Honor (Theodore Roosevelt).

2. What is now Purdue ROTC started at the University in 1888 as The Corp. It consisted of 92 men, 76 in the infantry company and 16 in a field artillery platoon.

3. The U.S. Marine Corps' birthday is Nov. 10, 1775. Thanks to the German Army, the U.S. Marine Corps has an unofficial mascot. During World War I, many German reports had called the attacking Marines "teufel-hunden," meaning Devil-Dogs. Teufel-hunden were the vicious, wild mountain dogs of German Bavarian folklore.

4. During World War II, the Navy’s V12 program trained over 6,000 active duty sailors and Marines at Purdue. They lived in Cary Hall and 21 of the 25 fraternity houses on campus at the time.

5. The U.S. Navy was founded on Oct. 13, 1775. The first record of the number of ships in the Navy's fleet is from 1886. In December of that year, there were 38 ships in the fleet. At the end of 2011, there were 285 ships in the fleet.

6. The Purdue Memorial Union was built in honor of the Purdue students and alumni killed in World War I.

7. The U.S. Air Force is the youngest service, established on Sept. 18, 1947. Before the Air Force became its own branch of the military, it was a part of the Army. On Aug. 1, 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps formed the Aeronautical Division, which later evolved into the Air Force.

8. Until 1964, all male students at Purdue were required to participate in ROTC for their first two years of college.

9. The U.S. Coast Guard was created on Aug. 4, 1790. In 1996, women composed about 7 percent of the Coast Guard's 37,000 active duty personnel. New London was the first service academy to accept female applicants, and in 1988, Lt. (J. G.) Beverly Kelly became the first woman to command a U.S. naval vessel, the patrol boat Cape Newagen.

10. Neil Armstrong fought in the Korean War as a Navy fighter pilot between his sophomore and junior years at Purdue.