Veterans Day 2005

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To my fellow Veterans:

 

I thank God for the rights he endowed us with and I thank you for preserving and defending them.

 

And about that Flag that flies over us:

 

There she is,

 

Still flying. Still fluttering in the breeze.

 

If she could speak, maybe this is what she would say:

 

I am your flag.

 

I am more than just cloth; cut, shaped and sewn together.

 

I am the spirit of the American Revolution,

 

The Declaration of Independence,

 

The Constitution,

 

The Bill of Rights

 

The Gettysburg Address.

 

I am the symbol of liberty and justice known throughout the world.

 

I am the refuge for the worlds oppressed peoples.

 

I am the armor and the sheild for religious freedom.

 

I am the emblem of the greatest sovereign nation on the face of the Earth.

 

I am the pain, the sorrow, the happiness, and the joy of all of your today and yesterdays.

 

I have seen predatory poverty, unmatched wealth, profound hate and the outpouring of unparalled love and compassion.

 

I am the inspiration for which American patriots have rallied and fought and thousands upon thousands have given the ultimate sacrifice of their lives and sacred fotunes.

 

I am here in the dawns early light and the twilights last gleaming.

 

I have been the guide-on for your sons and daughters in to the conflicts of history;

 

From the frozen winter at Valley Forge to the battlefields of Yorktown, Vicksburg and Anzio, to the nameless jungles in Vietnam and the burning sands of the Middle East/

 

I have been there for all of Americas story.

 

II have flown on the highest montain tops on this world and was the first to fly on a distant world.

 

I am the spirit in the hand of a child waving to me from the sidewalk on the 4th of July.

 

I know the Gold Star Mother, for I am the silent sentinal that stands guard over the row upon row upon row upon row of the white stone markers that mark the final resting place of the honored dead.

 

I have flown though war, internal strife and prosperity.

 

I am unfurled with dignity and fly freely on your happiest occasions and am draped in sorrow during your saddest hours.

 

Through all of this I have been respected because:

 

My red stripes stand for courage, strength, sacrifice and the bloodshed and spilled in defense of this Democratic Union.

My white stripes signify liberty, purity, virtue and innocence that this nation strives for. They also stand for the burning white-hot tears of those left behind when our sons and daughters are lost in my defense.

 

My blue field is the eternal vigilance, loyalty, perserverance and just equality for all that surrounds My stars, which are clustered together, unifying the 50 states under God, as one Nation indivisible.

 

I have been called many things since I was first sewn together and my design has changed occasionally but I am still referred to as OLD GLORY, THE STARS AND STRIPES, THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE, THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER.

 

If you honor me, as millions of people do, you will repect me and you will defend me by giving nothing but your best.

 

For if our enemies tear me down from my lofty position, I may never return.

 

Raise me up for all to see. Let the gentle breezes continue to move me so that I might remain a beacon to all.

 

Dare to keep the light and the firees of patriotism burning thereby keeping alive the true spirit of democracy.

 

Let everyone stand in defense of the liberty as our veterans have and let me fly everywhere freedom sings.

 

Worship, pray and pracice your faith and I will remain the waving, yet unwavering symbol striving for peace and defender of freedom for all people.

 

For I am the FLAG OF YOUR COUNTRY-THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

 

Long may I wave over this land of the free and the home of the brave.

 

 

 

Charles Seris

SSG USArmy 68-70