Normally I don't do political or even patriotic posts...but this one is something that resonates with me. December 7th, 1941 will as President FDR said, "...live in infamy." There's a lot of speculation still that we knew the attack was coming and used it to to get into WWII and help our allies...but even our military command couldn't have predicted the full-scale massacre that happened.
What is done is done...but the brutal attack by the Imperial Japanese pilots on the naval bases has been talked about, movies made, even romanticized....but at least the sacrifice of those soldiers and naval personnel has never been forgotten. My grandfather served proudly in the Navy during those turbulent times, and he always had very interesting and action packed stories to tell my brother and I as kids...something I"ll never forget.
It's my hope in this day and age, after suffering through the Vietnam Conflict, multiple wars in the middle east and Afghanistan, we would not forget those soldiers there as well. They signed up to be the closed fist of our country, right or wrong...and doing some thing that many of us could never do. I know I couldn't...so I've always respected them for that kind of bravery. Remember to thank them when you see them...help them to find jobs...show them the respect that they deserve because they've earned it through trial by fire.
I'll end with a spoken word song from the great Johnny Cash...
"Ragged Old Flag"
by Johnny Cash
I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there.
I said, "Your old court house is kinda run down,
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town".
I said, "Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that's a ragged old flag you got hangin' 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 kinda 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 burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it,
writing "Say Can You See"
It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & 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 Chancellorsville,
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on
That Ragged Old Flag
"On Flanders Field in World War I,
She got a big hole from a Bertha Gun,
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp, and low, a time or two,
She was in Korea, Vietnam, 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 wavin' back here at home
in her own good land here She's been abused,
She's been burned, dishonored, denied an' refused,
And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout out the land.
And she's getting thread bare, and she's wearin' thin,
But she's in good shape, for the shape she's in.
Cause 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 bring her down slow every night,
We don't let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.
On second thought
I *do* like to brag
Cause I'm mighty proud of
That Ragged Old Flag"
