I walked across a County Court House square. 
On  a park bench, an old man was sitting there.

I said: Your old Court House is kind of rundown."
He said, "Oh, it,ll do for our little town.'

I said:"Your old flag pole is leaning a little bit,
and that's a ragged old flag you got hanging on it

He said, "Have a seat" and I sat down.
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"

I said, I think it is'.
He said, I don't like to brag but we're kind of proud of that ragged old flag.

You see, we got a little hole in that flag there when Washington took it across the Delaware;
And it got powder burns the night that Francis Scott Key sat watching it writing
'Oh, Say Can You See',

And it got a bad rip in New Orleans, with Packingham and Jackson tugging at its' seams.
And it almost fell at the Alamo beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancelorsville; She got cut again at Shiloh Hill.

There was Robert E, Lee, Beauregard and Bragg,
and the south wind blew hard on that ragged old flag. .

On Flanders' Fields in World War 1, she got a big hole from a Bertha gun.
She turned blood red in World War 11, she hung limp and low a time or two.
She was sent to Korea and Viet Nam;
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.

She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now, they've about quit waving her back here at home.
In her own good land she's been abused; she's been burned, dishonored, denied and refused; The government for which she stands is scandalized throughout the land.

She is getting threadbare and she's wearing thin, but she's in good shape for the shape she's in.
For she's been through the fire, before, and I believe she can take a whole lot more.

So we raise her up every morning and we take her down every night
We don't let her touch the ground and we fold her up right.

On second thought I do like to brag,

'cuz I 'm mighty proud of that ragged old flag."

 

 

 

 

Article Submitted and Read by:

Colonel Kenneth Todd, May 2001

 

Photo: Colonel Todd

Below, Submitted by Father D.E. O'Brien, USMC

It is the Soldier, not the reporter, who has given us Freedom of the Press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet, who has given us Freedom of Speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us Freedom to demonstrate.

It is the Soldier who salutes The Flag,

Who serves beneath The Flag,
and
Whose Coffin is draped by The Flag,

Who allows the protester to burn The Flag.

 

 

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