----- Original Message -----
From: <philupspc@aol.com>
To: <philupspc@aol.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2001 7:03 PM
Subject: Serious one...The Battle of the Flag...Please foward along
> THE BATTLE OF THE FLAG
>
> A protest raged on a courthouse lawn,
> Round a makeshift stage they charged on,
> Fifteen hundred or more they say,
> Had come to burn a Flag that day.
>
> A boy held up the folded Flag,
> Cursed it, and called it a dirty rag.
> An OLD MAN pushed through the angry crowd,
> With a rusty shotgun shouldered proud.
>
> His uniform jacket was old and tight,
> He had polished each button, shiny and bright.
> He crossed that stage with a soldier's grace,
> Until he and the boy stood face to face.
>
> "FREEDOM OF SPEECH", the OLD MAN said,
> "Is worth dying for, good men are dead,
> So you can stand on this courthouse lawn,
> And talk us down from dusk to dawn,
> But before any Flag gets burned today,
> This OLD MAN IS GOING TO HAVE HIS SAY!!
>
> My father died on a foreign shore,
> In a war they said would end all war.
> But Tommy and I wasn't even full grown,
> Before we fought in a war of our own.
>
> And Tommy died on Iwo Jima's beach,
> In the shadow of a hill he couldn't quite reach
> Where five good men raised this Flag so high,
> That the WHOLE DAMN WORLD COULD SEE IT FLY.
>
> I got this bum leg that I still drag,
> Fighting for this same old Flag.
> Now there's but one shot in this old gun,
> So now it's time to decide which one,
>
> Which one of you will follow our lead,
> To stand and die for what you believe?
> For as sure as there is a rising sun,
> You'll burn in Hell 'fore this Flag burns, son
>
> Now this riot never came to pass
> The crowd got quiet and that can of gas,
> Got set aside as they walked away
> To talk about what they had heard this day.
>
> And the boy who had called it a "dirty rag",
> Handed the OLD SOLDIER the folded Flag.
>
> So the battle of the Flag this day was won
> By a tired OLD SOLDIER with a rusty gun,
> Who for one last time, had to show to some,
> THIS FLAG MAY FADE, YET THESE COLORS DON'T RUN.
>
> 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 the freedom
to
> demonstrate.
>
> It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair
> trial.
>
> It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag, and
whose
> coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.
>
John C Yates
P.S. not written by me
[ 09-16-2001: Message edited by: jcy19 ]
