European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 19, 1962, Darmstadt, Hesse                                J x of forces May 19, 1962 America s military strength go son Public display today As the nation Marks the 13th annual Observance of armed forces Day All Over the world from the smallest town in the Midwest with a National guard armory to a far off foreign port with a task Force of Navy ships lying at Anchor units of America s armed forces will open their doors to their neighbors. Theme of the Observance is Power for peace american military installations in Europe will put their hardware on View with increased Pride in the joint achieve ments of the 15 North Atlantic Powers i minimizing the threat of War. Although armed forces Day is1 technically Only today the third saturday in May defense Secretary Roberts Mcnamara has authorized observances during the entire nine Day period of May 12 through May 20. The Day was first authorized by the defense department in 1950to help Mark the unification of the armed forces. Army Day had been in april and Wavy Day in october. " this year president Kennedy has note Din his annual proclamation of armed forces Day that there is a More certain Unity of Effort among the army. Navy air "0T Marine corps than Ever before in our history. In 1362," he said we could Well dedicate this Tib Servance to closer Unity Ana the stars and stripes common Effort Between tha civilian Effort Industry education and civil defense and our armed forces. Our National Security depends equally on both efforts civilian and  Tho president also paid special tribute to the National guard of the army and air Force and the reserves  the services for their response to the Call our nation has made upon them in the past year. To those who have sacrificed said or. Kennedy the nation Speaks in  last summer and fall because of Heberlin situation president Kennedy called a total of 15100 reservists and National guardsmen to Active duty. At the presi Dent s request Congress also increased the permanent size of the armed forces by232000, adding i25.k to the army. 63000 to the air Force 2ff,000 to the Navy and15x100 to the Marine corps the draft Call jumped from 13,000 in August to 25,000 in september anti enlistments increased 39per cent in the same period. Forty five thousand of the additional men came to Europe to boost the strength of the , 7th army to Germany and the  air forces Europe. At the end of the year the armed forces stood at 2,743,000. In  armed forces Day Mes Sage. President Kennedy said guard zealously your right to serve in the armed forces for without them there will be soother rights to