| Author
|
Post |
 
|
|
Ponycar
F L I N T O I D
|
Dave Starr, you will appreciate this, and all other who care about the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. Snope found this one to be TRUE.
JOHN MCCAIN'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 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 fr om 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 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 se wn 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 anot her 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,
ndivisible, with liberty and justice for all." |
_________________
A government big enough to give you everything is also powerful enough to take it all away. |
|
Thu Feb 14, 2008 2:28 pm |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Profile
FlintTalk.com Forum Index
> Political Talk
