God's Message To America On September 11

On September 11, two American citizens observed the above cloud formation in the sky above central Virginia.

God truly does bless America....

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

Flag Day 2011 - Honoring The Stars & Stripes

Flag Day was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 of each year as National Flag Day.

"Old Glory" has inspired more people than any other flag in the world. It has accompanied our troops in multiple wars as we liberated untold millions of oppressed people. There is a magic about our flag that brings tears to our eyes, warmth to our hearts, and pride to our spirit.

Please take time today to remember our flag, and remember all of those who have given their lives in its defense.

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

Flag Day, 2010 - Honoring Our Flag & Those Who Defend It

Today is Flag Day. Please take time to enjoy all the verses of the Star Spangled Banner. Also remember our sons and daughters who are fighting for it throughout the world:

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The Star Spangled Banner

by Francis Scott Key

O say! can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night, that our flag was still there.
O say! does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream.
'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner. O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n-rescued land
Praise the pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our Trust."
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

* * * *

American warriors, thank you for your continued service and sacrifice.

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

A Father, A Son, And A Tattered Flag

Here's story from AOL about a Vietnam veteran, his son who served in Iraq, and a tattered American flag (another such flag shown above):

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Dad Refuses to Take Down Tattered Flag
By Suleiman Wali, for AOL News

(Aug. 5) - It might be strange to hear that there's an uproar over an American flag that's being displayed by a Vietnam veteran in honor of his son who's serving in Iraq. But it's not who's displaying it that's got many people in a Fresno, Calif., neighborhood upset -- it's what the flag looks like.

Tattered and torn, Louis Haros' flag still flies above the front lawn of his home, despite months of protests from several neighbors. But Haros, 71, has refused to bring it down until his son, Paul, returns from his second tour of duty in Iraq.

"I made a promise to my son and I'm going keep it," Haros told AOL News Wednesday. "He was the one who put it up, and he would be the one to bring it down."

That ceremony will come soon. Paul Haros, 39, has already returned from Iraq. He had been undergoing medical check-ups at a military base in Wisconsin this week and is scheduled to be reunited with his father in Fresno on Thursday.

"When he comes back, we'll replace it with new one that a motorcycle club gave me," Haros, a veteran of the Vietnam war, said.

Haros said the flag his son put up was originally in "good shape," but that the weather took its toll.

"I never dreamed it would get in the condition it had gotten," he said.

Now, faded and with a huge tear across the bottom, the flag has become an eyesore for many people in the military-heavy block.

"One of my neighbors banged on my door late one night and brought me a new flag to put up," Haros said. "They didn't want to listen to me about why I had my flag up. They just said it was a disgrace."

Haros acknowledges that with the recent media attention he's gotten, his detractors have calmed down. But some neighbors are still upset.

"I'd been watching that flag fall apart," Bryan Walters Sr., a Navy veteran, told FoxNews.com. "It had been getting more and more tattered every day, and it was just breaking my heart."

* * * *

A Vietnam veteran made a promise to his Iraq war veteran son, and I support his efforts to keep that promise. When the son takes down the flag, it will be a greater tribute to that flag than simply exchanging it for a new one from K-Mart...

Charles M. Grist
www.TheCobraTeam.com
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

Today is Flag Day

Today we remember the history of our most famous national symbol. Please go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080606-12.html for the President’s proclamation of this year’s Flag Day.

Congratulations to Old Glory and thanks to the men and women in the military who defend our liberty each and every day.

Charles M. Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com