Army celebrates 251 years of service at birthplace in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – The Penn & Franklin Chapter of the Association of the United States Army hosted a celebration of the U.S. Army’s 251st birthday and Flag Day June 14 here in the city where the Army, the Flag and the nation were created.

The Philadelphia Stripes and Stars Festival was highlighted by an event outside Independence Hall, where in 1775 the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution to establish the Continental Army.

“There is no more appropriate place to celebrate the 251st birthday of the United States Army than here in Philadelphia,” said Maj. Gen. Lisa Hou, director of the National Guard Bureau’s Office of the Joint Surgeon General. “The streets around us are the ground upon which an idea was born – the idea that free people could govern themselves and defend the liberties they hold dear.”

The event also featured the mass enlistment of new Army recruits, cutting of the Army birthday cake, and an aerial demonstration by a professional skydiving team.

“On June 14, 1775, the (Second Continental) Congress passed the following resolution – ‘Resolved that six companies of expert riflemen be raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia; and that each company, as soon as completed, shall march and join the Army near Boston,’” said Eric Stetson, president of the AUSA Penn & Franklin Chapter.

“We became the United States Army at that moment, and we’ve been serving ever since,” he added.

For 251 years, the U.S. Army has answered the call to defend and support America against both foreign and domestic challenges. The Army is the largest of the armed services, consisting of more than 1.2 million people serving across the globe who defend the country.

“Before there could be a United States of America, there had to be an Army willing to defend the cause of liberty,” said Hou, who formerly served as The Adjutant General for the New Jersey National Guard. “Before there was a Declaration of Independence, before there was a U.S. Constitution, there were ordinary Americans who stepped forward, accepted extraordinary risks, and became the first Soldiers of the United States Army.”