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!
Including Religious Freedom
KEEP IT LIT!! KEEP IT LIT!
For all of our other military personnel, where ever they may be.
Please
Support all of the troops defending our Country.
And God Bless our Military
who are protecting our Country for our Freedom.
Thanks to them, and their sacrifices, we can celebrate the 4th of July.
We must never forget who gets the credit for the freedoms we have,
of which we should be eternally grateful.
I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform;
so young, so tall, so proud.
With hair cut square and eyes alert,
he'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil;
how many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
NO, FREEDOM ISN'T FREE !
I heard the sound of Taps one night,
when everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant 'Amen.'
When a flag had draped a coffin
of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
of the mothers and the wives,
of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea.
Of unmarked graves in Arlington .
NO FREEDOM ISN'T FREE
Enjoy Your Freedom
and
God Bless Our Troops.
When you receive this,
please stop for a moment
and say a prayer for our servicemen.
Of all the gifts you could give a U.S. Soldier, prayer is the very best one.
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you Jesus Christ and the
American GI One died for your soul, the other for your freedom
You might want to pass this on ... as many seem to forget both of them.
Please copy and paste this into a new email,
eliminating everyone's personal information.
Thank you and May God Bless You and Yours. |
Jeff,
Although I enjoy the story that is posted about how Taps
was created, I'm afraid that it is a Myth. Here is a link to a man who has
done much research on Bugle calls and the origin of Taps.
http://www.jatoga.net.au/~witman/chs_villenueva/taps.htm
We have a special ceremony for Taps at Texas A&M, each
month. It is called Silver Taps and is performed by Corp. Soldiers dressed
in white playing special silver bugles. It is to remember students who
have died while actively attending Texas A&M. Here's the link:
http://aggietraditions.tamu.edu/silvertaps.shtml
Keep up the good work with the Site!
Regards,
Seth A. Fuller |