Pledge of Allegiance

[nataliemarie]

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 - 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.

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. Four 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."

[Dragon Lady]

With All of my heart and every fiber of my being!

DL

[Margaret Diann]

You will like this audio of Red Skeleton - Intro on reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America

I really liked this; I could listen to it over and over!

God Bless America!

[nataliemarie]

Thank you for that post.. I listened to it, and loved it. I love our country.. and this is why. The pride that I can have in it.. and the freedom to do so.

I get chill bumps everytime I think about it.. maybe I'm just a romantic in love with our country, but thats okay with me.

God speed!

Respectfully,
PFC Hughes