Like most folks, I ponder departing this earth with trepidation, and ask myself: If forced to lay down my life in the last full measure of devotion, for what would I die? Two answers come to mind readily: God and family. There is another honorable, patriotic answer: Country.
I love America’s symbol, Old Glory, and wear it daily. As did my father, I followed it to foreign shores in service to the greatest country on earth, and every day, I salute the flag that draped his coffin — the same flag that will drape mine.
President Ronald Reagan, my favorite American, once spoke of those brave men and women who, in the 1940s, left jobs, families, friends, and the comforts of home to follow Old Glory into battle and to fight to the death if necessary to defeat tyranny and thereby preserve that for which the American flag stands: freedom.
He said,
“When they followed our flag to foreign shores, the men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy…. It was the deep knowledge that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.”
And in yet another speech, President Reagan said,
“All my political life, I’ve compared America to a shining city thriving beneath a flag that symbolizes its freedom and prosperity … God-blessed, and teeming with people … living in … peace….
“After two centuries … she's still a beacon … for pilgrims … hurtling through the darkness toward a home, a life, a future and security in the land over which the American flag flies.”
As he prepared to lead the Third Armored Division against Adolf Hitler’s forces, another of my favorite Americans, General George Patton, prayed,
“God of our fathers, who by land and sea have ever lead us to victory, please continue Your inspiring guidance in this the greatest of all conflicts. Strengthen my soul so that the weakening instinct of self-preservation, which besets all men in battle, shall not blind me to my duty, to the glory of my calling, to responsibility to my fellow soldiers, and most of all to the flag we shall follow into battle.”
In The National Anthem, Francis Scott Key asks, “Oh say can you see?” Yes, Mr. Key, I see … I see the world’s most instantly recognizable symbol of freedom.
Tyrants, dictators, fanatics, and terrorists, who seek to impose oppression upon the peoples of the earth, passionately hate Old Glory. But, as we Americans are reminded in the fifth chapter of the Book of Galatians, we must
“Stand fast … in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
As I do every day, on the Fourth of July I will thank God for one of the greatest blessings of all: The blessing of being born American.
Jimmy Reed——
Bio and Archives
Jimmy Reed is an Oxford, Mississippi resident, Ole Miss and Delta State University alumnus, Vietnam Era Army Veteran, former Mississippi Delta cotton farmer and ginner, author, and retired college teacher.
This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s latest book, entitled The Jaybird Tales.
Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)).
