The Pledge of Allegiance.

[katcarasella]

I normally don't talk politics, but..................
I wanted to share this because of someone dear to me.

This is not meant to be controversial thread.

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

THE NEXT TIME YOU SAY IT THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE WILL BE SAID WITH A
TEAR IN YOUR EYE

"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 yea rs 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 10,00 0 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 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 concrete 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 p iece 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."
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