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- The American Trail, the American Trail blaze in Blood defended in the Blood, Chapter thirteen. The Brave Flag. There it is the flag, a familiar sight, the familiar thing. You see it everywhere, most often you see it in your mind's eyes. There it is stretching parking in the window, that ship bearing past the statue of Libertine. There it is hanging limply from the flak hole of an army posting Kent Born, almost in dead center of the great town. There it is in that picture four marines and a stick of wood and a piece of plot, when a splash of color had an insignificant place called Aguajema. There it is in your heart, that feeling that it's always been flying, always will be flying someplace somewhere, the fly the American flag, as it will it. That history book over there, picot up, boy, this one, sure almost anyone would do. That's start near the beginning. That's it, just a couple of pages farther back. See it, this one with the funny ships. Yes, it's one of those old engravings of the Port of New York. But look at those flags, all those flags, not one American flag. Do you notice that sun not an American flag in the place. Now. It wasn't always there. It had to be put there in June seventeen seventy six in New York. And when we meet in Philadelphia, gentlemen, we hope we can devise an instrument for the good of ourselves. Well and all these what are you going to do? Moses going to get out? But Jefferson's right, we can have independence from England. We can have our own country here. I'm not taking any chances now, you better not. You see that man up here, five pounds for your one. Next time we see him will be hanging from a piece of a best British hemp. Won't have much to say then, Willie. That's the way it was. Some did, some didn't, but enough did. Now that man they were talking about, he didn't hang after all, but he did almost die of cold and hunger at Valley Forge, and he saw his men die in pain, the threatened and monoloth New Yorktown. Don't let those old pictures fool you. A bullet in the head hurt just as much then as it does now. And a lot of the men who died didn't even have a decent pair of shoes to die, and that man they were talking about, I, George Washington, do solemness where that I will faithfully enter an ads of cotton, splash of color, stick of wood. It could have been ripped down before it even got up there. It could have died a borning. The American Republic was a babe in arms. The British Empire was the greatest naval and military power in the world. In eighteen twelve, page two, they born in the take off finger subjects set set of Holy Fire, or of eighteen twelve, just a few pages in the history board. But when it was over, the American flag could fly and freedom over the seven scenes. Yes, the flag could have died born. It could have been buried on plains or mountain sides or desert as a pioneers moved westward because the land didn't give an inch either side. The flag could have been ripped apart in eighteen sixteen. Just keep on flipping through the book. More between the states. You're a pup tenter general, a president of photographer the American flag. The president stands on a battle that this nation undergone shall have a new birth of freedom. And that's the government of the people. Yes, he died soon after that. Of course they buried a big flag with him. From the look, the pictures are getting better now. See that old coal burning cruiser. You can practically hear Admiral Dewey is starling for full speed, fellows busting fire, all guns and the flag. And this picture right up in the modern times, now World War One. There was marching and cheering in the streets, and the spending boys lined up for the drafts and in front of the recruiting offices, and it was a wonderful time to be alive. And the count gym back to the gun. You wanting to get more there, I'll make this world safe for the pot But little flags blew over, little plots of ground where other flags are buried in the hearts of the countrymen in France and Belgium and the cold floor the North Atlantic. You can throw the history book away now, son, my father, my uncle George win the Sure I know the Second World War, Sure that's happened, But the history is just being written now. The pictures will be better, of course, excellent film, magnificent shots from all angles, pairs and ours. That's the thing about pictures. This one's there's Hitler, and there's the German war machine, and there's the back of Europe already half broken. But they're not nice place. And that's another picture. Even closer on Earl Harbor, a despot in the west, another despot in the east. And suddenly the great American continent seeming tolerable at Bay. And now the pictures crowded one on top of another. A Prime minister speaks Winston Churchill. Not only the British Empire now, but the United States are fighting for alive. Behind these great come back into the community is our reign, all the spirity and hope of all the concert contreves in Europe. Yes, that was a nice picture. We weren't alone. Suddenly there were many nations fighting one fight, the one good fight, the tough fight we ever had. My answers out, ansins out. I've had it over. It's a beautiful group specific way to below and in another ocean, in another climate. I can't hang on in longer you need it. I swear that last place saws. I guess they didn't know. I guess they didn't. But did you notice one thing in those pictures? You hardly ever saw an American boy fighting alone, lots of other boys, lots of other uniforms, lots of other flags, and today they're still fighting together, fighting to preserve peace. Sure the flag is up there, partly because we're big and strong, But there's another bigger reason. Before you put a flag on a stick or even on a piece of closet, it's got to be flying in the hearts of the country. Mantain, what of the flags? What of the hearts of the country? Men? Simply Iowa population twenty five hundred and fifty nine. Missus mcmurrow's kitchen in the big green house, three blocks from the post office. And no, we never had any boys in the service girls neither never had any children of any kind. It just meets me that lead up there. Darn the ladders busted again. Here you are. Thanks, yes, sir, gess she came to the wrong place. Well, I saw that big American flag outside the house. Oh you got that big flag out there, And lots of people think it's because we had boys in the service, but thinks though, Well, thanks very much anyway, Missus mcmurrow. I guess I'll be running along. Take the lunch. If your life smells wonderful, but no thanks. Would you mind telling me one thing though? If you and mister mcmurrow haven't any children, why the deuce are you cooking about five gallons of beef stew for lunch? Won't be none of it left tomorrow? Tell you that you see Bob and me adopted for European children. Right end of the war started with one and one led to another. All kinds of ways to keep democracy alive. Sound, don't forget that. That's why the flag's flying out front. Grindstone, Maine. Population sixty temperature seventeen degrees below zero. What of the frag? What of the hearts of the countrymen? Now, ain't we fancy? Fella like you comes down from the city, can't hardly tell what he's talking about. Get out the road, boy, Go to town council if you got such things up there and speak your mind. If you see a good bill coming or I vote for it, see a bad one, broad against it. But don't just stand there, go run for office or something. Step aside, now, boy, if people work for the frag, the flag will take care of itself. Get up there and get try if you want me to. But I thing called that anesthetic that they gave me hasn't worn off. That's all right, sung well. To me, it's like that thing there in the New York Harbor. It made the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. It says, give me you're tired, you're poor. Yeah, that's it. You see. That means something personal to me. My grandfather came from Poland and he memorized that. It's the first thing he learned when he learned to speak English. I guess the flag means something different everybody. To me, it means that once this country stepped down and said, come on in, join us, for better or worse. Being a soldier in Korea means it's for the worse. Right now, that's the only part of the deal. But it's not the only part of the deal. Don't forget this s my name right, Hey, what's what's the rest of that? Give me you're tired, you're poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming show, send these the homeless tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door, sleep tied soldier. Well that's about it. Yeah, that's it. Quite a lot, Yes, quite a lot. And I suppose the next thing you say is where do we go from here? Yeah, I'd like to know. Nobody knows exactly where anybody's going from here, but we do know. What happens to America now is up to us. All of us. Listen to these words from the President of the United States. The job of being an American is an unis job in terms of what we plan and hope for and can achieve. America will always be an unfinished job. Most of all, it is the job of America's youth more than any others. The young people of our country have the right to ask where are we going? Because wherever we go, they will be there. Now. It has been my good fortune to spend all my life with young people. I think a sense of what is on their minds in these troubled days. They hope, of course, to build a stronger, better America as the cornerstone of a free world. A strong America and America growing in spiritual and material strength is a board against war. But more than that, only a strong and free America actively cooperating with the free world, can give substance to the hope of lasting peace our crusades sees for tomorrow, and America filled with opportunity that passes far beyond the little limits of today. America's role will be a decisive role. My message to you, my message to the youth of our country, is that America is not true. America is unfinished business, the most important unfinished business in the whole world. President Idenhaower to that, Yes, well that's it. But here before you go, son, you're going to need plenty of help. Better take these with you. Declaration of Independence, Bunker Hill, Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, yet Sport, the Constitution, the Enterprise, Wood Anzio, Normandy Waddleton, now Bolder Dam, the Mississippis, the bony shores of Maine, the Peak Gulf, the Blue pacin Floress, the lake and flat land. And a stick of wood, a piece of cloth, a splash of color. Good luck sun. This is the final chapter of the American Trail, brought to you by the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.