In that vain dont know if you read this beautiful story...
A True Patriot...
From a speech made by Capt. John S. McCain, US, (Ret) who represents
Arizona in the U.S. Senate:
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 three 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 Americans
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 Navy. 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 needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created 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 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 concrete slab in the middle on which
we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As
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 Allegiance, you must never
forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to
build our nation 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." |
