By Joan Brown Wettingfeld
This column is dedicated to all veterans on this special holiday, Veterans Day, but most especially to those who suffered wounds or disability.
In August 1776 when the American patriots faced the British and Hessians in the Battle of Long Island, they knew it would be their first big test and they were crushed by the enormity of their defeat at the hands of the British expeditionary force. Outnumbered 5-1 by the British, when the tally of losses was taken (the verity of which has not been agreed upon even today), the records indicate that approximately 300 Americans were killed, 650 wounded, and 1,100 were taken prisoner
