Pledge of Allegiance

[mack]

JOHN MCCAIN'S REMARKS ABOUT THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE!!!


IN light of the recent appeals court ruling in California, with respect to

the Pledge of Allegiance, the following recollection from Senator John McCain

is very appropriate:

"The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain


As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during

the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in

solitary confinement or two or thr ee to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from

these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men

to a room.


This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of

the efforts of millions of A mericans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000

miles from home. One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named

Mike Christian.


Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of

shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Na vy. He later

earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval

Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and

deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide

for people who want to work and want to succeed.


As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to

receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs,

scarves and other items of clothing.


Mike got himself a bamboo n eedle. Over a period of a couple of months, he

c reated an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.


Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on

the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.


I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our

day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most

important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and

discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.


That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit

of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours.

Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as

well as we could.


The cell in which we lived had a con crete slab in the middle on which we

slept. A naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.


As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the

excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath

that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo

needle, was my friend, Mike Christian.

He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had

received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made

Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how

important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and

country.


So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegian ce, you must never forget the

sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our

n ation and promote freedom around the world.

You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country


"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty

and justice for all."

[jmur5074]

Rep Sent.

[lewisipso]

That's what I'm screaming.