Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea. (November 20, 2024): To most Americans, Thanksgiving began in 1621 when pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts joined Native Americans in a feast to celebrate a successful fall harvest. What most do not know is that the tradition did not become an annual event until the Revolutionary War. In this photo by Captain Kaylin Hankerson, U.S. service members dine during the annual Thanksgiving meal hosted by the Korean American Gunsan Alliance, a good neighbor program to connect U.S. personnel to their local community.

Thanksgiving became an annual event during the war for independence when Americans were trying to unify the nation during this terrible struggle. The Continental Congress decided to declare several days of thanksgiving to help inspire our troops to victory. The first such day fell on Nov. 1, 1777, when news of some victories against the British reached their ears.

Later during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln called for a day of thanks to be held on the last Thursday in November. The day would be officially known as Thanksgiving.

During World War I, the Red Cross provided Thanksgiving goodies to troops overseas and some local families in France took Soldiers into their homes for the day. During World War II, K-rations issued to the troops were replaced with turkey and cranberry sauce and in recent conflicts the President of the United States has made surprise visits to the troops.

This year, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) will ship the ingredients for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey and pumpkin pie to tens of thousands of service members across the world. The agency started gathering these fixings in April and will send nearly 700,000 pounds of food across the globe in time for the holiday. The sheer volume of chow involved is staggering.

The DLA is sending 139,665 pounds of turkey, 98,000 pounds of ham, and nearly fifty thousand pounds of shrimp. To go with their meals, troops will feast on 46,753 pounds of sweet potatoes, 9,324 cases of pies and cakes, and over a thousand cases of eggnog.

The DLA Troop Support supplies America’s armed forces with $14 billion of food, uniforms, protective equipment, and medicine and medical supplies each year. The agency was established before the Civil War as the primary means of supplying the U.S. armed forces.