{"id":2372,"date":"2012-03-12T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T10:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/americainuniform\/?p=2372"},"modified":"2012-03-08T18:23:53","modified_gmt":"2012-03-08T18:23:53","slug":"john-mccains-remarks-about-the-pledge-of-allegiance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/americainuniform\/2012\/03\/john-mccains-remarks-about-the-pledge-of-allegiance.html","title":{"rendered":"John McCain’s Remarks about the Pledge of Allegiance!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Pledge of Allegiance – by Senator John McCain<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.\u00a0 In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.\u00a0 Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama .\u00a0 He didn’t wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old.\u00a0 At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy.\u00a0 He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School.\u00a0 Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home.\u00a0 In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.\u00a0 Mike got himself a bamboo needle.\u00a0 Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike’s shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in.\u00a0 We cleaned him up as well as we could.<\/p>\n

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept.\u00a0 Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.<\/p>\n

As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag.\u00a0 He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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.
\nYou must remember our duty, our honor, and our country.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

\n

Loyal Subscribers!\u00a0 We need some help.\u00a0 The purpose of our “Heart” section is to publish stories of the experiences, contributions and sacrifices of our military (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard) and public service personnel (police officers, fire fighters, EMS, merchant marines and others in the public sector) as well as stories of their families.\u00a0 Please search your memory and computer for a few and\u00a0send them to Bill\u00a0(CPT Otis) O’Quin at boquin@ix.netcom.com<\/a><\/strong> for possible publication. \u00a0Thanks!<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Important links for updated military\/defense information:
\nThe Daily News Briefing<\/a><\/strong>:<\/a> Today’s News for the U.S. Military, their families and friends.
\n The Military Trivia Challenge:<\/a><\/strong> Register and test your knowledge about military history.
\n U.S. Department of Defense:<\/a><\/strong> Military Defense News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interesting-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn McCain's Remarks about the Pledge of Allegiance! - America in Uniform<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/americainuniform\/2012\/03\/john-mccains-remarks-about-the-pledge-of-allegiance.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John McCain's Remarks about the Pledge of Allegiance! - America in Uniform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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. 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