[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 74 (Wednesday, June 14, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                FLAG DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GERALD D. KLECZKA

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 14, 2000

  Mr. KLECZKA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on Flag Day, to remind all 
Americans to pause and pay their respects to the banner that has come 
to symbolize the freedom and liberty that we hold so dear.
  June 14, 2000, marks the 223rd birthday of the U.S. Flag. In 1777, 
less than a year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, 
and more than a decade before the Constitution was finalized, the 
Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes pattern for the 
national flag. Flag Day was first celebrated in the year of the flag's 
centennial, 1877. After that, many citizens and organizations advocated 
the adoption of a national day of commemoration for the U.S. Flag. 
However, it was not until 1949 that President Harry Truman signed 
legislation officially making Flag Day a day for us to remember what 
the Stars and Stripes stand for, and honor those who gave their lives 
for them.
  The brother of one such brave soldier from my district contacted me 
recently to relate to me the great patriotism and love for his country 
of his fallen family member, Joseph G. Serketich, who was killed in a 
World War II battle in Metz, France, on November 17, 1944. During his 
basic training at Camp Swift, TX, he sent a letter to the Father of his 
church back home in Wisconsin that exemplifies how those soldiers felt 
about their flag, and reminds all of us of its true meaning.
  On July 31, 1942, Pvt. Serketich wrote of what he felt was the army's 
most moving ceremony, the end of the day retreat. His words ring as 
true today as they did when they were written:

       There the men all stand in formation, facing the flag of 
     our country. While the colors are being lowered the men stand 
     at attention and present arms. . . The thrill comes when one 
     stares at the flag there high in the sky, he wonders what is 
     it there for. What does it mean? Liberty, freedom, happiness 
     and freedom of religion. . . I will fight to defend it 
     whenever an enemy tries to take it from us. I will die for it 
     as Christ died for me. . . . All America should be proud of 
     its flag, not of its material beauty, but for what it 
     stands--life, liberty and happiness--to be also proud of its 
     soldiers who fought to make it, and who fight to preserve it.

  The Serketich family also sent me a poem entitled ``I Am Your Flag''. 
These excerpts eloquently remind us all of what this hallowed national 
symbol really stands for:

     I was born on June 14, 1777.
     I am more than just a cloth shaped into a design.
     I have led your sons into battle from Valley Forge to the 
         bloody jungles in Vietnam. I walk in silence with each of 
         your honored dead to their resting place
     My red stripes symbolize the blood spilled in defense of this 
         glorious nation. My White stripes signify the burning 
         tears shed by Americans who lost their sons. My blue 
         field is indicative of God's heaven under which I fly.
     My stars are clustered together, unifying 50 states as one, 
         for God and country.
     Keep alight the fires of patriotism, strive earnestly for the 
         spirit of democracy.
     Worship eternal God and keep His commandments,
     And I shall remain the bulwark of peace and freedom for all 
         mankind.
                                                 --Author Unknown.

  I would like to thank Paul Serketich for bringing these tributes to 
my attention. Each day as the flag is raised in front of our government 
buildings, schools, and businesses, and as we put our right hands over 
our hearts and pledge our allegiance, we will be reminded not only of 
those who fought and died for all that our flag represents, but of the 
freedom that they bought with their lives.

                          ____________________