On the first official Thanksgiving holiday in 1863 Union troops took a break from the fighting to enjoy an actual sit-down dinner.
World War I
Head table with guests at the Thanksgiving dinner with the First Regiment, U.S. Naval Training Camp, Charleston, South Carolina, c. 1917
World War II
WWII Thanksgiving dinner, Italy, 1944
USMC Lieutenant Colonel W. W. Stickney preparing to cut a Thanksgiving holiday cake with a captured Japanese sword, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 26 November 1942.
Korea War
Thanksgiving in Korean War
President Eisenhower Eats With Troops During Korean War
Vietnam War
Global War on Terrorism
Those who get to eat their turkey in the comfort of a dining facility are relatively lucky. Here soldiers are assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade sit down for dinner at Combat Outpost McClain in 2012
Sailors give thanks before enjoying their Thanksgiving meal aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73)
U.S. Marines giving thanks
Featured Image: Admiral William Halsey having Thanksgiving dinner with the crew of battleship USS New Jersey, his flagship, 30 November 1944.
I ate several Thanksgiving dinners ‘on duty’ during my 30+ years. Also Christmas dinners. I also hosted several
dinners for both holidays in my base quarters for the unaccompanied shipmates of various services. Now I give thanks for my longevity and family and friends Thank you Mario for the fine historical postings..
some of the captions are wrong but message is clear, all of us who served missed a lot of thanksging and christmas meals……my thanks to the USO where i spent a lot of those missed meals
Station HYPO 
25 November 2021 at 15:47
I ate several Thanksgiving dinners ‘on duty’ during my 30+ years. Also Christmas dinners. I also hosted several
dinners for both holidays in my base quarters for the unaccompanied shipmates of various services. Now I give thanks for my longevity and family and friends Thank you Mario for the fine historical postings..
Jim King
CTOC Ret.
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30 November 2021 at 05:59
Amen, Mario, to what Jim King wrote!!
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7 October 2022 at 01:48
some of the captions are wrong but message is clear, all of us who served missed a lot of thanksging and christmas meals……my thanks to the USO where i spent a lot of those missed meals
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