"We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separate it by white in stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her...", a quote attributed to George Washington.
The American flag has changed designs more than any other flag in the world. The first design, the Grand Union, is the inspiration of the quote from Washington. Washington designed the flag with help from Betsy Ross, the seamstress.
It was not until 1912 that America had a standardized flag. Old Glory, or the Stars and Stripes, is one of the most complicated, needing 64 pieces of fabric to complete.
Flag Day was proclaimed by President Harry Truman to be June 14. Each year the President proclaims the commemoration, while encouraging Americans to fly the flag outside of homes and businesses.
Happy Flag Day.
Yesterday I received an email from a member of our military. It was an unexpected link for me to make to an article I read, written by one of my favorite political commentators, Charles Krauthammer. Krauthammer wrote of the clear distinction between the two candidates running for President, on the Iraq war. I highly recommend this thoughtful, common sense article.
The link between the soldier writing the email to me and the Krauthammer article is Mosul. The soldier is a part of the joint Iraqi-U.S. offensive there, cleaning out the last of al-Qaida.
Here is an excerpt; "I just wanted to write and tell you thank you for the Boca Java coffee you sent to us in Iraq. We are part of a unit deployed to Mosul, Iraq and are working in the Mosul Fusion Cell. Our job is to identify, hunt down, and kill or capture insurgents, Al Qaeda, and other bad people in Mosul. So far, we've had a lot of success and will be doing this for the next 9 months of our 15 month deployment."
"Once again, thank you for your thoughtfulness! Wish us luck, and the next time you read about an Al Qaeda guy caught in Mosul, I hope you think of us!!"
I've been honored to participate in the Boca Java "cups for troops" program for a couple of years now. With each of my monthly orders, a pound of coffee went to the troops as part of the company's support of the military. I didn't know donor names were put on shipments.
I can assure you I think of them every day. Not just Flag Day. My 'thoughtfulness' is nothing compared to his bravery and service to our country. May they all return safely. In victory. Heads held high. To a very grateful nation.
I'll drink to that.
4 comments:
First of all, Happy Birthday today, the 15th!!!! Hope you have a splendid one, my fellow Gemini friend!!
That's so wonderful about the Boca Java... I have donated in the past to Treats for Troops, and need to start that up again.
Have been MIA, but should be back to normalish after we open on the 26th.. It has just been a huge load.
More off topic, did you see some conservative blacks are considering voting for Obama, just because he's black. And the evangelicals are still considering not voting for MCcAin. Am so disappointed. We might very well end up with Obama, but it will be their karma, not mine.
do you have an email? if you don't mind, email me at incognito_736 at yahoo.com
Geez, Karen, this post made my day. That e-mail just ROCKED. Thanks -- I needed that!
That's a great mail isn't it. I'll head over and read that Krauthammer link.
What a wonderful post, first about the flag and then about the coffee. I had never read that quote by George Washington before. Thanks.
That is so cool that you heard from a serviceman thanking you for the coffee. God bless them.
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