Ragged Old Flag

I walked through a county courthouse square,

On a park bench an old man was sitting there.

I said, "Your old courthouse is kinda run down."

He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town."

I said, "Your flagpole has leaned a little bit,

And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging 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 "Oh Say Can You See".

And it got a bad rip in New Orleans

With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams."

"And it almost fell at the Alamo

Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on through.

She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville

And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.

There was Robert E. Lee, 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 by the time it was through.

She was in Korea and 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 waving her back here at home.

In her own good land she's been abused -

She's been burned, dishonored, denied and refused."

"And the government for which she stands

Is scandalized throughout the land.

And she's getting threadbare and wearing 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,

Take her down 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."

Written by Johnny Cash

Image source here

Happy 240th Birthday America!

 Stars and Stripes in Roswell, NM

The winds that blow through the wide sky in these mounts, the winds that sweep from Canada to Mexico, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, have always blown on free men. - Franklin D. Roosevelt

 Image by Dominique Teng©2016

Happy Independence Day America!

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. - Erma Bombeck

Happy Independence Day! 

Rising the Flag on Iwo Jima

Seventy years ago, on February 23, 1945, five United States Marines and one United States Navy corpsman planted the American flag on the peak of  Mount Suribachi on the Japanese Island of Iwo Jima. 

Not many people know that the 37-square-foot flag actually came from Pearl Harbor. The flag was discovered in a Pearl Harbor Navy depot only a few months earlier by a young Navy officer, Allan Wood. 

The invasion of Iwo Jima began on February 19, 1945, after the fall of Philippines. Iwo Jima was used by the Japanese as an early warning station. The island was heavily fortified. The Japanese infantry kept secure positions in their underground bunkers and "pillboxes" that were connected by a myriad of tunnels. The bloody and difficult battle resulted in heavy casualties among the invading US Marines. It lasted until March 26, 1945, but the peak was taken only four days after landing.

The iconic shot was taken by an Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal who received a 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

This image inspired Felix de Weldon to sculpt the United States Marine Corps Memorial that was dedicated to all Marines who lost their lives in wars, past and present. The Monument is located near the Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, DC. It is a constant reminder of an incredible sacrifice and bravery of men who loved their country more than anything else. 

By Dominique Allmon

Image source here

A Nation's Strength

Happy Independence Day, America!

What makes a nation’s pillars high
And its foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?

It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.

Is it the sword? Ask the red dust
Of empires passed away;
The blood has turned their stones to rust,
Their glory to decay.

And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown
Has seemed to nations sweet;
But God has struck its luster down
In ashes at his feet.

Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly...
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.

By Ralph Waldo Emerson 
1904

Happy Veterans' Day

From the world wars of Europe to the jungles of the Far East, from the deserts of the Middle East to the African continent, and even here in our own hemisphere, our veterans have made the world a better place and America the great country we are today. - John Hoeven

My infinite thanks to all the Veterans for their bravery and sacrifice - Dominique

America, the Exceptional

America, the exceptional

Vladimir Putin's open letter to America shocked or even upset some of my friends. It not only received quite a coverage in the media, but also managed to bring out some serious reflection on the state of things in the country, at least among the conservatives. 

Many things may not be the way they should, but America is exceptional and Americans should always keep this in their minds even if their own president does not share this belief.

While my friends are still recovering from the shock, the Republican Senator Rand Paul responded publicly to Putin's letter. His response, however, received much less media coverage and I wish to share it here for all my readers on this September Sunday morning. 

President Putin, America is Exceptional 
by Senator Rand Paul

A recent op-ed by Russian President Vladimir Putin has prompted me to respond. While his position that the Syrian conflict can and should be settled through a political and diplomatic solution is correct, virtually everything else in his writing should be taken to task. So I shall.

I begin with Mr. Putin’s disagreement regarding the exceptionalism of the United States of America. I could not more strongly disagree with him. While he is correct that God created every human being as an equal in His eyes, clearly the results of each of our efforts on this earth, individually and collectively, are not equal.

America’s exceptionalism is rooted in our founding documents and values. From the rights granted by our creator, but guaranteed by our Constitution. We should not shy away from saying so, especially when our actions are in keeping with this exceptional founding, as they were this week in our debate over going to war in Syria. Our constitutional checks and balances were on full display, largely resulting in the at least temporary halting of a rush to war. 

Mr. Putin’s second mistake is to focus on the speck in the eye of the United States, while ignoring the plank in his own. He accuses the United States of alarming interventions in foreign countries. While I certainly have my bone to pick with our foreign policy over the last 15 years, the Russian President is the least qualified person I can think of to make this argument with a straight face. 

We went to war in Afghanistan because they were harboring those who attacked us on 9/11. Mr. Putin’s cohorts went to war there three decades earlier for no legitimate reason.  

The United States until now has resisted arming one side of the Syrian civil war – all the while the other side has been armed by Russia. 

The United States has used diplomatic pressure to attempt to resolve the ongoing situation with Iran – Russia has just announced a large arms sale that will escalate tensions in the region. Being lectured to on foreign intervention by Mr. Putin would be comical if it weren’t such a serious example of a lack of self-awareness. 

Nevertheless here we are. Sometimes the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or at least my temporary ally. As Mr. Putin correctly pointed out, the United States and Russia banded together to defeat the menace of the Nazis a generation ago. And both countries certainly face real and present threats from Islamic extremists, both at home and in areas of strategic importance.

American should not act militarily in Syria because it cannot and should not join the same side as Al Qaeda. Russia cannot and should not continue to support militarily the brutal Assad regime. 

And so, the dialogue that began this week must go forward, and it must be given a chance to succeed. 

The issue of course, is with the participants and the details of the plan. Asking us to “trust them” is clearly not a palatable option, and we cannot act naively simply to bypass war. Any diplomatic solution must involve a clear plan to rid Syria of these weapons, with strong verification and enforcement mechanisms. As Reagan used to put it, Trust but Verify. 

So while I welcome the engagement of the Russians, and the dialogue Mr. Putin this week attempted to begin with our country, I remain to be convinced of the details. 

And I respond to him directly with the statement that yes, American is indeed exceptional. Our history has proved it so. While we all share the same Creator, we do not all share the same richness of history regarding human rights, freedom and democracy. There has been in the past 200 years a city on the hill that has shone brighter than all others. We will not be ashamed of that. May God allow us to continue to model this example to the world in these difficult times.


Article source TIME

Image source here

If you have not yet read Vladimir Putin's letter here is the link

Happy Independence Day America!

How often we fail to realize

our good fortune 
in living in a country 
where happiness is more 
than a lack of tragedy.

Paul Sweeney

Image source here

Happy Constitution Day!

  Signing of the Constitution by Howard Chandler Christy, 1940

225th Anniversary of the signing of the great charter of liberty

Howard Chandler Christy’s painting of the signing of the United States Constitution was commissioned in 1939 as part of the congressional observance of the Constitution’s sesquicentennial. Completed in 1940, the 20-by-30-foot framed oil-on-canvas scene is among the best known images in the United States Capitol.

The painting depicts Independence Hall in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. George Washington is the most prominent figure; he stands on the platform next to Richard Spaight of North Carolina, who is signing the document. Eighty-one-year-old Benjamin Franklin is seated in the center, with Alexander Hamilton leaning toward him, while James Madison appears farther to the right. In comparison to many of the historical paintings in the Capitol, the colors are bright and airy, and the brushwork is almost impressionistic in places. Christy used light and shadow to unify the individual portraits.

To achieve the greatest possible accuracy, Christy searched for portraits by the best artists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, such as Charles Willson Peale and Gilbert Stuart. He located portraits of thirty-seven out of the thirty-nine delegates and the Secretary, William Jackson. Christy took some liberties in composing his scene: John Dickinson, whose signature was added by proxy, is included, and three men who were present but did not sign are not shown. He obscured the faces of the two signers (Thomas Fitz Simons and Jacob Broom) of whom no portraits were found. He also researched authentic costumes, including a pair of George Washington’s breeches borrowed from the Smithsonian Institution, and he depicted the furniture and artifacts used by the delegates. The books beside Franklin’s chair were part of Thomas Jefferson’s library; Christy borrowed them from the Rare Book Room of the Library of Congress and included them in the scene to acknowledge Jefferson’s importance to the Constitution. He made the sketch for the painting in Independence Hall in September, at the same time of day as the signing, to show accurately the angle of sunlight in the room with its glass chandelier. The artist said that the flags he depicted are the Stars and Stripes, one from a Maryland dragoon regiment, and regimental colors from Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Representative Sol Bloom, the Director General of the United States Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission, first proposed that the painting be commissioned in 1937 as part of the 150th anniversary of the Constitution. Howard Chandler Christy, one of the most popular illustrators and portrait painters of the time, had created an historically accurate scene of the signing for the Commission to reproduce. His first small painting included a maiden representing "We the People" and numerous other symbolic figures, but these were eliminated in the final version. In the three years during which Representative Bloom worked with Christy to locate early portraits of the signers and to fill in historical details, he became aware that there was no scene of the signing of the Constitution in the U.S. Capitol, and few other paintings in existence included all the signers.

A Joint Resolution was first introduced in the House in 1937 to pay Christy $35,000 to paint Signing of the Constitution. Heated debate arose, however: some members of Congress were in favor of memorializing one of the greatest events in American history, but others held deep reservations about spending the funds for art during a period of severe economic depression, and the bill did not pass. The Joint Resolution failed again in 1938.

Finally, in 1939, a modified resolution, P.R. 11, 76th Congress, was accepted to set up a commission consisting of the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and the Architect of the Capitol to employ an artist to paint a 20-by-30-foot scene of the signing at a price of $30,000. The contract with Christy was signed on July 24, 1939. On October 29, 1940, the Congress approved $1500 for the purchase of a frame, which was accepted by the Joint Committee on the Library on December 26, 1940.

The huge 18-by-26-foot canvas was painted in the sail loft of the Washington Navy Yard, where Christy at times used enlisted men as models for the figures. After five years of research and seven months of painting, the canvas was dedicated in May 1940 in the Rotunda of the Capitol, where it was on view for 16 months. The 20-by-30-foot frame, made in nine sections including the central eagle and crest, was hand carved and given a gold-leaf finish by Azeglio Pancani of New York. After much debate about where it could be hung, another painting was moved and the Christy in its frame was installed in the east grand stairway of the House, where it remains today.

In 1967 the painting was vandalized by being slashed along the bottom; the canvas had to be removed from the stretcher to be transported for repair in 1968. The fills made then were apparent, however, and over time dust, grime, and yellowed varnish obscured the original brilliant colors. In 2006 the painting was cleaned and conserved in place by conservators working from a large four-level scaffold from mid-October through December. The cleaning of areas that had looked dull brown revealed lively expressions; detailed costumes; and impressionist colors, such as lavender and pink, applied with scintillating brushwork. The vandalized area was given special attention and is now barely visible. Finally, a new coating of clear protective varnish was applied.

The frame, which had been covered with bronze powder paint in 1968, was taken apart in sections and conserved off site. It was cleaned and repaired, re-gilded with 22-karat gold leaf similar to the color of the original metal leaf, and toned to complement the painting. The gold leaf will never tarnish and should remain beautiful for generations to come.

Image and article from the Architect of the Capitol page

Happy 4th of July!

 

Fourth of July at Santa Ynez

         I

Under the makeshift arbor of leaves

a hot wind blowing smoke and laughter.

Music out of the renegade west,

too harsh and loud, many dark faces

moved among the sweating whites.

         II

Wandering apart from the others,

I found an old Indian seated alone

on a bench in the flickering shade.

He was holding a dented bucket;

three crayfish, lifting themselves

from the muddy water, stirred

and scraped against the greasy metal.

         III

The old man stared from his wrinkled

darkness across the celebration,

unblinking, as one might see

in the hooded sleep of turtles.

A smile out of the ages of gold

and carbon flashed upon his face

and vanished, called away

by the sound and the glare around him,

by the lost voice of a child

piercing that thronged solitude.

         IV

The afternoon gathered distance

and depth, divided in the shadows

that broke and moved upon us . . .

Slowly, too slowly, as if returned

from a long and difficult journey,

the old man lifted his bucket

and walked away into the sunlit crowd.

  

By John Haines

Image source unknown but greatly appreciated

Traveler's Tales

For James

 

We were told that our flight would be delayed for another hour. As we sat there I watched my fellow travelers who gathered at the gate. Some were quite angry, others seemed to have given up completely. We were stranded and there was nothing much we could do.

First, it was the engine, then the weather. I wondered what the excuse would be an hour from now. But at this point it did not matter anymore. I would never be able to make my connection in DC. So why get mad? 

I opened my book and begun reading when a guy sitting next to me woke up. He must have been very tired. Or sick. To be true, he looked like crap and you couldn't even tell how old he was. He must have been in an accident or something. Bruises everywhere.

"Traveler's Tales" - he read the title aloud and asked me if the book was any good. I just started reading it and had not yet formed any opinion about it. It was an anthology of some obscure stories told by people who traveled to strange places. I love traveling, but I am not brave enough to hitch hike in Yemen or Cambodia. Besides, I was always curious to find out what motivated people to chose a thousands' stars "hotel" over a warm bath and a king size bed at the Ritz. 

He looked at me with his blood shot eyes and said that he used to love adventures, but his current experience changed him forever. It would be a while before he leaves the country again. I could empathize. I never forgot the nightmare of arriving in Turkey without my luggage...

I wanted to go back to my reading, but he asked me if I wanted to hear a real traveler's story. I hesitated. Oh, actually why not, I thought, and let him tell me his tale. 

He was a student from Berkley, CA. When the Arab Spring begun last year he decided to go to Somalia and help the protesters organize against those in power, just like his father did in California when they protested against the Vietnam war in the 60s. 

Oh my God! - I thought, but let him go on. He joined the Marxist outfit "United We Stand" and just like his father was ashamed of America and regarded himself as a proud citizen of the world. He despised the military, hated the rich, and wanted to abolish the Republican party. He hated the American way of life and hoped that the change would come as promised by the president. A new era of social justice and equality. A real new world order!

I was quite appalled at what I heard and wanted to confront him. I knew that not all was right in the country, but most Americans could really be proud of being American. But before I could say a word, he continued. 

Short after his arrival in Mogadishu he was snatched from the street by some masked men. He was beaten up and thrown into a dark cave-like cell. The stench was unbearable. 

There were two other Americans in the cell and they had the same story to tell. One of them was businessman from Ohio. He could speak some Arabic. His mother was a second generation Lebanese who married his Irish father. Somalia was supposed to be a paradise. But before he could even meet his business partners, he was snatched from the street. Just around the corner from his hotel! 

The other guy was a Boston doctor who joined the Doctors Without Borders organization. He made great money as a plastic surgeon in a private clinic, but decided that his life had no meaning. He was disgusted by the vanity of Boston socialites who were unhappy with their noses or droopy eyelids. He wanted to follow two friends who came here last year, but just like the other man, he was snatched from the street before he could even meet the others. 

What followed was a story of pain and fear. The cell was dark and dirty. There was no toilet and they had to sleep on a cold, dirty floor. They were hardly given any food. And all of them were tortured. 

Their captors would vanish for days and return only to abuse them even more. One day, however, each of them was taken upstairs, given a copy of a Herald Tribune to hold in front of the chest. They were told that they would be free if the ransom was paid. Each of them was put in front of a video camera and had to read a text. Name, nationality, and a plea for a quick payment. They also had to read out what would happen to them if money wasn't paid on time.

This was a story you usually read about in the papers. But here, next to me, was a man who actually went through an unimaginable hell. 

He took a sip of water and continued. Two days later his cell mates were released and he never saw them again. It must have been a week when he saw his captors again. He was beaten again and thrown back to another cell. In the darkness he made out a silhouette of a Chinese man sitting in the corner. That man spent almost a month in captivity and gave up any hope of returning to his family. He was expandable. Besides, no one knew where he was...

An announcement was made at the gate. Our airplane was in approach. Everyone was relieved! The boarding would begin within the next forty five minutes or so. 

There wasn't much time left and I wanted to call home, but the young man resumed his story. His captors told him that the American Consulate could not do anything for him because they claimed he wasn't an American citizen. But if ransom wasn't paid, he would have to pay with his life for this "insult". 

This was more than horrible. He was Robert C. Johnson of Berkley, California. His parents could confirm his identity at any time. The Consulate must have been able to access some record of his existence. His passport was issued only weeks before he came to Somalia. But instead, they claimed that no one, not even his parents ever heard of him. He should stop pretending that he was an American citizen.

Never before in his entire life he would insist on being an American, but there, in that hopeless black hole things looked much different. If only someone could confirm his citizenship, he would be free. He not only felt like a character copied from Kafka, he felt like Doctor Faustus! When he was a freshman, he seriously considered giving up his nationality, so insisting that he was indeed an American felt like selling his soul to the devil.

As days went on, he gave up his hope just like that Chinese man in the corner, although in his delirium he would sometimes imagine a US Marine squad raiding the compound and liberating him from the fangs of these savages. But to be true, on most days he thought of ending his own life. And yet, here he was. Free and grateful. On his way back to the United States. Proudly holding his American passport. Never happier to return home. To freedom.

"So, what happened? How did you get out?" I asked. "Oh. That's another long story," he said.

By Dominique Allmon

Traveler's Tales by Dominique Allmon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Living Without a Consequence

"My loyalties will not be bound by national borders, or confined in time by one nation’s history, or limited in the spiritual dimension by one language and culture. I pledge my allegiance to the damned human race, and my everlasting love to the green hills of Earth, and my intimations of glory to the singing stars, to the very end of space and time." - Edward Abbey

Someone posted this quote on his Tumblr blog apparently very proud of the "wisdom" it carries. The quote was shared hundreds of times by other bloggers. The interesting thing is that these proud citizens of the world still hold on to their national passports and profit from all the privileges a citizenship of a country, especially a Western one, carries with it.

I agree that we are all citizens of the world and it isn't wrong to embrace this "oneness". But neither it is wrong or mistaken to be patriotic and proud about one's own country, its culture, tradition, and history. The plain denial or rejection of it is nothing, but an idle exercise of an impractical mind. 

There is a very nasty trend in the United States, however. For some sinister reason people are ridiculed and forced to give up their patriotism. Spontaneous displays of it are suppressed. "Someone" is afraid of the rise of nationalism. I personally find this ridiculous, but the arguments go that the "foreign" neighbors (Mexicans, Arabs, Indians and others) are offended when they see an American flag displayed next door. 

Maybe if you lived in Mexico or in Saudi Arabia it would not surprise me that you felt disturbed by American flags. But if you made the USA your home you should sincerely embrace this country and its customs. And if you don't like it in America, simply pack your stuff and go back to where you come from. No one holds you here by force!

 

Dominique Allmon

Image source unknown but greatly appreciated

Joyeux 14 Juillet France!

Today the French celebrate their national holiday - the 14 Juillet - which is also known as the Bastille Day.

This holiday commemorates the storming of the Bastille, which took place on July 14, 1789 and marked the beginning of the French Revolution.

The Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the absolute and arbitrary power of Louis XVI’s regime. By capturing this symbol, the people signaled that the king’s power was no longer absolute: power should be based on the nation and be limited by a separation of powers.

Although the Bastille only held seven prisoners at the time of its capture, the storming of the prison was a symbol of liberty and the fight against oppression for all French citizens; like the Tricolore flag, it symbolized the Republic’s three ideals: Liberté, égalité, fraternité for all French citizens. It marked the end of absolute monarchy, the birth of the sovereign nation, and, eventually, the creation of the First Republic, in 1792. 

For a century, the day of July 14 was not given special attention. It truly became a national holiday in 1880, under the Third Republic, at Benjamin Raspail’s recommendation. The celebration was meant to help shape a new national image, around the republican symbol. Under the draft law put forth by Raspail and passed by the National Assembly, Bastille Day officially became the symbol of the birth of the Republic.

The day is generally celebrated with all sorts of festivities and ceremonies all over France. But the flagship event of the celebration is the military parade held on the morning of July 14, on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris. Being first held in 1880, this is the oldest and largest regular military parade in the world and a highly popular event in France, being broadcast on TV every year. The parade passes down the Champs-Elysées from l’Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde where the President of the French Republic, his government and foreign ambassadors stand. In some years, invited detachments of foreign troops take part in the parade and foreign statesmen attend as guests.

Article source here

Happy 4th of July!

American Angel by Catherine Lane

Home of the Brave

Through the feel of war they brave this day
How proud they stand, their unselfish way 

Our soldiers bear what we cannot see
They assure our right to live life free 

Each trained will face an unknown fate
Our support they need, don’t hesitate 

Just imagine how this land would be
Without their courage - catastrophe 

All the liberties we have grown to know
Would not exist, this life would go 

Find a thankfulness within your mind
Speak gratitude for our bravest kind 

Have the willingness to show you care
For fallen heroes, hold back no tear 

Reach out to God with his guiding light
For our troops do pray, both day and night 

America raise your flags to wave
For we truly are 'home of the brave'

by Roger Robicheau 

Image source unknown but greatly appreciated

Quote of the Day

 Patrick Henry's "Treason" speech before the House of Burgesses in an 1851 painting
by Peter F. Rothermel

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.” - Patrick Henry

In the Rothermel's painting, Patrick Henry delivers his famous "If this be treason, make the most of it!" speech, declaring his opposition to King George III's Stamp Act of 1765. A decade later, as revolutionary sentiments surged in America, Henry declared "Give me liberty or give me death!" to the Virginia Convention gathered at St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia.

To listen to Henry's speeches please visit Colonial Williamsburg

Constitution Day and The Forgotten Man

 The Forgotten Man by Jon McNaughton, 2010

Constitution Day, also known as the Citizenship Day, is an American federal observance that recognizes the ratification of the United States Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. It is observed on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787.

"All the American Presidents of the past gather around a man sitting on a park bench. That man, with his head bowed, appears distraught and hopeless as he contemplates his future. Some of the past Presidents try to console him and look in the direction of the modern Presidents as they exclaim, “What have you done?” Many of the modern Presidents behind Barack Obama seem to congratulate each other on their great success oblivious to the man on the bench. In front of the man, paper trash is blowing in the dust. Crumpled dollar bills, Amendments of the Bill of Rights and like a whisper - the U S Constitution beneath the foot of Barack Obama." 

Jon NcNaughton, Artist

Image source here

Please, watch the video

Happy 4th Of July, America!

The Star Spangled Banner

O say! can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof thro' the night, that our flag was still there.

O say! does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream.

'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner. O long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion

A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,

And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand

Between their lov'd home and war's desolation,

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n-rescued land

Praise the pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto, "In God is our Trust."

And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave 

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

By Francis Scott Key sung to the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven" 

Courtesy of  the Home of Heroes website 

"If our country is worth dying for in time of war, let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace." ~ Hamilton Fish