The Pledge of Allegiance

OK, I'm a VERY patriotic person. Every time I hear the Star Spangled Banner, I actually think about that guy looking out over the water and seeing that tattered flag still flying with the bombs bursting in air. I really do. I believe he was in a ship and was waiting all night for the bombing to stop. The British v the Colonies. Do you know the story? Francis Scott Key, is that right? I'll have to go look it up. But, the guy's name is beside the point. Do you support our troops? Supporting the troops doesn't necessarily mean you support the people who send them places, or you could if that's who you like, I'm just saying. I just ALWAYS support our guys on the lines.

Anyone remember when our Embassy folks (about 50 of them) were held for for over 400 days in IRAN? (1979-1981) I think it was students who had them in the embassy compound, but that's WELL OVER A YEAR. It was a HUGE BIG DEAL BACK HOME. They let them go just after Ronald Reagan was sworn in, and took over from Jimmy Carter. I'd say it was the reason Jimmy Carter lost that election.

The Country got SO.... geared up. All patriotic. HUGE parades when the busses drove down the roads with the captives when they got home. It was really cool to see so many people get that patriotism bug, that hits the country every so often. Every so often something will happen, 9/11, something and the WHOLE country will rally PATRIOTISM. It's cool. You can't mess with the USA!

I have a flag waving out front of my house 24/7. My kitchen wall is red, white & blue stars & stripes nice stuff. My Lily (my 4 yr old Jack Russell mama who just passed away) always wore a mini-flag tied around her neck.

Anyway, WITH ALL THAT SAID, I'm really on here to share the following that got sent to me today.

THE NEXT TIME YOU SAY IT THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE WILL BE SAID WITH A TEAR IN YOUR EYE


A Former POW’s REMARKS ABOUT THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE!!!

IN light of the recent appeals court ruling in California, with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following recollection is very appropriate:

'The Pledge of Allegiance'

As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home. One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.


Mike came from a small town near Selma , Alabama . He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.


Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.


Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.


One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.

That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. A naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.

As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian.
He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.
You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country

'I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'


"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777