THE NEXT TIME YOU SAY IT THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE WILL
BE SAID WITH A TEAR IN YOUR EYE
IN light of the recent appeals court ruling in California,
with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following
recollection from Senator John McCain is very appropriate:
"The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain
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.
A 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."
PASS THIS ON... And on... And on! You can even send
it back to me. I don't mind, because its worth reading
again.
Thank you, Steven, for sharing this. I pray it is read
and remembered over and over.
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