The American Trail - The Brave Flag

The American Trail

The American Trail

blazed in blood

defended in blood

Chapter 13

The Brazed Flag

There it is

The Flag

A familiar sight, a familiar thing

You see it everywhere

Most often you see it in your mind's eye

There it is, stretching, talking in the window

That ship bearing past the statue of liberty

There it is, hanging, limply from the flag

Hold an army post in camp, feet worn

Almost in dead center of the Great Conflict

There it is, in that picture

Far Marines and a stick of wood

In a piece of cloth, in a flash of color

At an insignificant place called Igwo Chi Ma

There it is in your heart

That feeling that it's always been flying

Always will be flying

Some place, somewhere

The Flag

The American Flag

Has it?

Will it?

That history book over there, pick it up, boy

This one? Sure, almost anyone would do

Now start near the beginning, that's it

Just a couple of pages farther back

See it?

This one with the funny shit? Yes

It's one of those old engravings

To the port of New York

But look at those flags, all those flags

Not one American flag

Do you notice that some?

Not an American flag in the place

There it had to be put there

In June 1776, 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

God, 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'd better not

You see that man up here

He'll be hanging from a piece of the best British hint

Won't have much to say then, will he?

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

Have cold and hunger at Valley Forge

And he saw his men die in pain

The threatened and man of the 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 of

And that man they were talking about

I, George Washington

Do solemnly swear

That I will faithfully

These had gone

Splash of color

Stick of wood

It could have been ripped down before it even got up there

It could have died a warning

The American Republic was a baving arms

The British Empire was the greatest naval

And military power in the world

In 1812

In two?

We're boarding to death open this subject

Stand up!

Stand up! Are we fired?

War of 1812, just a few pages in the history book

But when it was over, the American flag

could fly in freedom over the seven seas

As the flag could have died upon

It could have been buried on plains or mountain

The size or desert of the pioneer's book westward

Because the land didn't give an inch either son

The flag could have been ripped apart in 1860

Just keep on flipping through the book

War between states

The picture, a uptimp, a general

A president of a photographer

The American flag

That the president stands on a battleground

Get his birth

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 here

Look, the pictures are getting better now

See that old coal burning cruiser

You can practically hear Admiral Doe

Is stalling for full speed

Bellows, busting, fire, all guns

And the flag

Right up in the modern times now

World War I

There was marching and cheering in the street

And the spindly boys lined up for the draft

And in front of the recruiting offices

And it was a wonderful time to be alive

And the ship took back to the gunners

With an energy of wanting to get over there

And just make this world safe

For tomorrow

That little flag

Through over little pots of ground

For other flags are buried in the hearts of the countrymen

And France and Belgium

And the coal floor of a North Atlantic

You can show the history book away now, son

But that is no

My father, my uncle George, when the...

Sure, I know

The Second World War

Sure, that's happened

But the history is just being written now

Of course, excellent film, magnificent shots

From all angles, there's and hours

That's the thing about pictures

This one

There's Hitler and there's the German war machine

And there's the back of Europe already half broken

And that's another picture, even closer

A Pearl Harbor, a desperate in the west

Another desperate in the east

And suddenly the great American continent

Seeming vulnerable at bay

And now the pictures crowd one on top of another

A prime minister speaks, Winston Churchill

Not only the British Empire now

But the United States

Are fighting for life

Behind these great

Come back into the communities

Our reign

All the spirit

And hope

Of all the conquered countries

In Europe

Here

That was a nice picture

Wayward alone

Suddenly there were many nations fighting one fight

The one good fight

The toughest fight we ever had

Attention, sir, attention, sir

I've had it over

A beautiful blue Pacific way to be low

And in another ocean and another climate

I can't hang on any longer

Me neither

I swear that last plane saw us

Guess they didn't know

No, I guess they didn't

But did you notice one thing in those pictures

You hardly ever saw an American boy fighting alone

Some 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 cloth

It's got to be flying in the hearts of a countrymen

What of the flag

What of the hearts of a countrymen

Simply Iowa, population 2559

Mrs. McMurray was kitchen in the big greenhouse three blocks from the post office

And now we never had any boys in the service girls

Neither, never had any children of any kind

It just beats me that lead up there

Darned ladders busted again

Here you are

I guess you came to the wrong place

Well, I saw that big American flag outside the house

I guess we got that big flag out there

And lots of people think it's because we had boys in the service

But things though

Well, thanks very much anyway, Mrs. McMurray

I guess I'll be running along

Say the lunch if you like

It smells wonderful, but no thanks

Would you mind telling me one thing though

If you and Mr. McMurray happen to need children

Why is it do so you're cooking about five gallons of beef stew for lunch

Well, if we none of it left tomorrow

I'll tell you that

Stopped as four European children right at the end of the war

Started with one and one lead to another

All kinds of ways to keep democracy alive

And don't forget that

That's why the flags fly on out front

Grindstone main population 60

Temperature 17 degrees below zero

What of the flag

What of the heart to the continent

Well, now ain't we fancy

Well, I 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 go for it

See a bad one, go against it

But don't just stand there

Go around for office or something

Step aside now, boy

If people work for the flag

The flag will take care of itself

Get up there now, get up

Oh, try if you want me to

But I think all that anesthetic that they gave me

Hasn't worn off

That's all that's on

Well

To me, it's like that thing there in the

New York harbor

It made the inscription on the statue of Liberty that says

Give me your tired, your poor

Yeah, that's it

You see that means something personal to me

Like grandfather came from Poland

And he memorized that

That's the first thing he learned when he heard you speak

He wished

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

But the worst right now, that's only part of the deal

But it's not the only part of the deal

Unquote

Don't forget to spell my name right

Hey, what's the rest of that

Give me your tired, your poor

Your huddled masses yearning to breed free

The wretched refuse of your teaming shore

Send these the homeless tempest tossed to me

I lift my lap beside the golden door

Sleep tight soldier

Well, that's about it

Yeah, that's it, quite a lot, huh

Yes, quite a lot

And I suppose the next thing you say is

Why do we go from here?

Yeah, I'd like to know

It's exactly where anybody's going from here

But we do know what happens to America now is up to us

All of them

Listen to these words from the President of the United States

The job of being an American is an unfinished 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 other

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 I 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

An America growing in spiritual and material strength

Is a poor work 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 cease for tomorrow

An 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 through

America is unfinished business

The most important unfinished business in the whole world

President, I'd like to know

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

Gettysburg

The Constitution

The Enterprise

Bellowwood

Anzio Normandy

Waddleton Al

Golderdown

The Mississippi

The Boney Shores of Maine

The Peaks Gulp

The Blue Physic

Taurus and Lace and Flatwack

And a thick of wood

A piece of cloth

A flash of color

Good luck, son

This is the final chapter of the American Trail

Brought to you by the ladies' auxiliary to the veterans of foreign wars

Thank you very much