The American Trail - The Brave Flag

0:00The American Trail The American Trail blazed in blood defended in blood Chapter 13 The Brazed Flag There it is The Flag A familiar sight, a familiar thing You see it everywhere Most often you see it in your mind's eye There it is, stretching, talking in the window That ship bearing past the statue of liberty There it is, hanging, limply from the flag Hold an army post in camp, feet worn

1:00Almost in dead center of the Great Conflict There it is, in that picture Far Marines and a stick of wood In a piece of cloth, in a flash of color At an insignificant place called Igwo Chi Ma There it is in your heart That feeling that it's always been flying Always will be flying Some place, somewhere The Flag The American Flag Has it? Will it? That history book over there, pick it up, boy This one? Sure, almost anyone would do Now start near the beginning, that's it Just a couple of pages farther back See it? This one with the funny shit? Yes It's one of those old engravings To the port of New York But look at those flags, all those flags Not one American flag Do you notice that some? Not an American flag in the place There it had to be put there In June 1776, in New York

2:00And when we meet in Philadelphia gentlemen We hope we can devise an instrument for the good of ourselves Well, and all these God, are you going to do Moses? Going to get out But Jefferson's right We can have independence from England We can have our own country here I'm not taking any chances Now you'd better not You see that man up here He'll be hanging from a piece of the best British hint Won't have much to say then, will he? That's the way it was, some did, some didn't, but enough did Now that man, they were talking about He didn't hang after all, but he did almost die Have cold and hunger at Valley Forge And he saw his men die in pain The threatened and man of the New Yorktown Don't let those old pictures fool you A bullet in the head hurt just as much then as it does now And a lot of the men who died Didn't even have a decent pair of shoes to die of And that man they were talking about I, George Washington Do solemnly swear That I will faithfully

3:04These had gone Splash of color Stick of wood It could have been ripped down before it even got up there It could have died a warning The American Republic was a baving arms The British Empire was the greatest naval And military power in the world In 1812 In two? We're boarding to death open this subject Stand up! Stand up! Are we fired? War of 1812, just a few pages in the history book But when it was over, the American flag could fly in freedom over the seven seas As the flag could have died upon It could have been buried on plains or mountain The size or desert of the pioneer's book westward Because the land didn't give an inch either son The flag could have been ripped apart in 1860 Just keep on flipping through the book War between states The picture, a uptimp, a general A president of a photographer

4:04The American flag That the president stands on a battleground Get his birth That this nation undergone Shall have a new birth of freedom And that's the government of the people Yes, he died Soon after that Of course, they buried a big flag With him From here Look, the pictures are getting better now See that old coal burning cruiser You can practically hear Admiral Doe Is stalling for full speed Bellows, busting, fire, all guns And the flag Right up in the modern times now World War I There was marching and cheering in the street And the spindly boys lined up for the draft And in front of the recruiting offices And it was a wonderful time to be alive And the ship took back to the gunners With an energy of wanting to get over there And just make this world safe For tomorrow

5:10That little flag Through over little pots of ground For other flags are buried in the hearts of the countrymen And France and Belgium And the coal floor of a North Atlantic You can show the history book away now, son But that is no My father, my uncle George, when the... Sure, I know The Second World War Sure, that's happened But the history is just being written now Of course, excellent film, magnificent shots From all angles, there's and hours That's the thing about pictures This one There's Hitler and there's the German war machine And there's the back of Europe already half broken

6:10And that's another picture, even closer A Pearl Harbor, a desperate in the west Another desperate in the east And suddenly the great American continent Seeming vulnerable at bay And now the pictures crowd one on top of another A prime minister speaks, Winston Churchill Not only the British Empire now But the United States Are fighting for life Behind these great Come back into the communities Our reign All the spirit And hope Of all the conquered countries In Europe Here That was a nice picture Wayward alone Suddenly there were many nations fighting one fight The one good fight The toughest fight we ever had Attention, sir, attention, sir I've had it over A beautiful blue Pacific way to be low

7:10And in another ocean and another climate I can't hang on any longer Me neither I swear that last plane saw us Guess they didn't know No, I guess they didn't But did you notice one thing in those pictures You hardly ever saw an American boy fighting alone Some other boys, lots of other uniforms, lots of other flags And today they're still fighting together Fighting to preserve peace Sure the flag is up there Partly because we're big and strong But there's another bigger reason Before you put a flag on a stick or even on a piece of cloth It's got to be flying in the hearts of a countrymen What of the flag What of the hearts of a countrymen

8:10Simply Iowa, population 2559 Mrs. McMurray was kitchen in the big greenhouse three blocks from the post office And now we never had any boys in the service girls Neither, never had any children of any kind It just beats me that lead up there Darned ladders busted again Here you are I guess you came to the wrong place Well, I saw that big American flag outside the house I guess we got that big flag out there And lots of people think it's because we had boys in the service But things though Well, thanks very much anyway, Mrs. McMurray I guess I'll be running along Say the lunch if you like It smells wonderful, but no thanks Would you mind telling me one thing though If you and Mr. McMurray happen to need children Why is it do so you're cooking about five gallons of beef stew for lunch Well, if we none of it left tomorrow I'll tell you that Stopped as four European children right at the end of the war Started with one and one lead to another All kinds of ways to keep democracy alive And don't forget that That's why the flags fly on out front

9:14Grindstone main population 60 Temperature 17 degrees below zero What of the flag What of the heart to the continent Well, now ain't we fancy Well, I like you comes down from the city Can't hardly tell what he's talking about Get out the road, boy Go to town council If you got such things up there And speak your mind If you see a good bill coming Or I go for it See a bad one, go against it But don't just stand there Go around for office or something Step aside now, boy If people work for the flag The flag will take care of itself Get up there now, get up Oh, try if you want me to But I think all that anesthetic that they gave me Hasn't worn off That's all that's on Well To me, it's like that thing there in the New York harbor

10:14It made the inscription on the statue of Liberty that says Give me your tired, your poor Yeah, that's it You see that means something personal to me Like grandfather came from Poland And he memorized that That's the first thing he learned when he heard you speak He wished I guess the flag means something different everybody To me, it means that Once this country stepped down and said Come on in, join us for better or worse Being a soldier in Korea means it's But the worst right now, that's only part of the deal But it's not the only part of the deal Unquote Don't forget to spell my name right Hey, what's the rest of that Give me your tired, your poor Your huddled masses yearning to breed free The wretched refuse of your teaming shore

11:14Send these the homeless tempest tossed to me I lift my lap beside the golden door Sleep tight soldier Well, that's about it Yeah, that's it, quite a lot, huh Yes, quite a lot And I suppose the next thing you say is Why do we go from here? Yeah, I'd like to know It's exactly where anybody's going from here But we do know what happens to America now is up to us All of them Listen to these words from the President of the United States The job of being an American is an unfinished job In terms of what we plan and hope for and can achieve America will always be an unfinished job Most of all, it is the job of America's youth

12:14More than any other The young people of our country have the right to ask Where are we going? Because wherever we go, they will be there Now it has been my good fortune to spend all my life With young people I think I sense of what is on their minds in these troubled days They hope, of course, to build a stronger Better America as the cornerstone of a free world A strong America An America growing in spiritual and material strength Is a poor work against war But more than that, only a strong and free America Actively cooperating with the free world can give substance To the hope of lasting peace Our crusades cease for tomorrow An America filled with opportunity that passes far beyond the little limits of today

13:16America's role will be a decisive role My message to you, my message to the youth of our country Is that America is not through America is unfinished business The most important unfinished business in the whole world President, I'd like to know Well, that's it But here before you go, son, you're going to need plenty of help Better take these with you Declaration of Independence Bunker Hill Bill of Rights The Emancipation Proclamation Gettysburg The Constitution The Enterprise Bellowwood Anzio Normandy Waddleton Al Golderdown The Mississippi The Boney Shores of Maine The Peaks Gulp The Blue Physic Taurus and Lace and Flatwack

14:16And a thick of wood A piece of cloth A flash of color Good luck, son This is the final chapter of the American Trail Brought to you by the ladies' auxiliary to the veterans of foreign wars Thank you very much