[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 81 (Monday, June 14, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6727-S6728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FLAG DAY
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, in August 1814, during the War of 1812, the
British Navy bombarded Fort McHenry in Baltimore. A lawyer and amateur
poet named Francis Scott Key from nearby Washington witnessed the
attack from a British ship, where he had been attempting to secure the
release of some American prisoners. The bombardment continued through
the night and many watching feared that the fort, which guarded the
approach to Baltimore, would shatter under the onslaught. When at last
the dawn came, Fort McHenry still stood, its enormous American flag,
though tattered, still flying. The exhausted British forces retreated.
Francis Scott Key captured the relief and exhilaration of that
turning point in history in a poem, which he titled ``The Defense of
Fort M'Henry.'' His verses were subsequently printed widely, and a note
added that said the accompanying tune was ``Anacreon in Heaven,'' then
a popular tune. In October 1814, a Baltimore actor sang Key's new song
in a public performance, calling it, for the first time, ``The Star
Spangled Banner.'' The Star Spangled Banner became the national anthem
in 1931 by an act of Congress. Though difficult for many people to
sing, this anthem has retained its popularity because it so eloquently
captures the love we have as a nation for our flag and the tender
regard we have for the Nation those colors represent.
Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Americans have grown
used to the sight of American flags. Beginning just hours after those
horrifying images hit our television screens, people reached into their
closets and hung flags by their front doors, in their front yards, from
their cars, and in front of their businesses. After the gauntlet of
terrorism had been flung in our face, we as a nation answered the
insult in a resounding and defiant way. Instinctively, we knew what to
do. Our collective consciousness recalled the words from the Star
Spangled Banner: ``Oh, say, does that star spangled banner yet wave?
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?'' Together, we
made sure that our banner still waved.
This last weekend, on the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of
Normandy, American flags again flew proudly as Americans and Europeans
remembered and honored the heroic sacrifices of June 4, 1944, that led
to the liberation of that beleaguered continent. On those distant
shores, the last cohort of an earlier generation accepted the enduring
thanks of nations and peoples freed from the terrible bonds of
occupation.
World War II brought out the best in America. Facing a clear and
present danger, the Nation, like a team of horses hitched to a heavy
load, dug deep and pulled together to put the enormous energy and
resources of our bountiful land to work. Vast armies were trained and
sent to battlefields across three continents. Fleets of ships were
built to ferry unimaginable quantities of materiel to support those
troops. Swarms of aircraft, armadas of battleships, and vast thundering
herds of tanks were built and sent forth to defeat our enemies. Our
scientists harnessed their creativity to produce new technology and new
weapons more deadly and more terrifying than any mankind had ever
before seen. Though our losses were staggering, the Nation persevered
until the happy days that American flags drove proudly into Paris and
flew over Germany, Italy and Japan. Never before, and, I fervently hope
and pray, never again will the world see war waged on such a scale.
Today, we are again at war. Our enemies are different, shadowy and
elusive, and their tactics and methods of operation are most un-
military. Not for them the open field of battle, but rather the
saboteur's stealthy attack. Still, American troops lie encamped in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Daily, they face attacks that, sadly, send home
too many of our men and women in uniform shrouded beneath an American
flag. For these fallen heroes, the music is ``Taps,'' not the ``Star
Spangled Banner.'' The flag, however, was much the same as the one that
flew over Fort McHenry all those years ago.
Each June 14, we honor the flag, marking the day in 1777 that the
Continental Congress adopted a resolution that stated simply:
``Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen
stripes alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars,
white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.''
In the Nation's early years, the actual design of the flag, whether
the
[[Page S6728]]
stars had five points or six or whether they were arranged in rows or a
circle, was open to different interpretations. Also in our Nation's
early years, a new star and a new stripe were added as each new State
was added to the Union. The flag that flew over Fort McHenry in 1814
had fifteen stars and fifteen stripes. On April 4, 1818, President
James Monroe signed into law the Flag Act of 1818. That act stipulated
that, as of July 4, 1819, the flag would consist of thirteen stripes,
for the thirteen original colonies, and twenty stars, one for each
State at the time. Further, upon admission to the Union, a new star
would represent each new State. Thus was born the flag that we know
today, the flag that flies over this Capitol building.
Through war and peace, triumph and tragedy, our flag, like our
Nation, has endured much over the last two centuries. Hoisted over the
victory stand at the Olympics, as it surely will be this summer in
Greece, draped over the gaping wound in the side of the Pentagon before
it was reconstructed, or printed on sacks of relief supplies sent to
crisis situations across the globe, our Nation's flag conveys our
pride, our courage, our defiance, and our magnanimity in the face of
great challenges. The flag is a part of so many other holidays and
celebrations. At the Fourth of July, on Memorial Day, on Veterans Day,
and now on the 11th of September, the flag will be flying. And always,
the sight of the red, white, and blue pulls us to our feet and stirs
our emotions. So it is more than fitting that on one day each year, we
honor the flag itself.
I would like to close with one of my favorite poems, by Henry
Holcomb, entitled ``Hats Off.'' It is a fitting tribute to our flag.
Flag Day
Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A flash of color beneath the sky:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!
Blue and crimson and white it shines,
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.
Hats off!
The colors before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by.
Sea-fights and land fights, grim and great,
Fought to make and save the State:
Weary marches and sinking ships;
Cheers of victory on dying lips;
Days of plenty and years of peace;
March of a strong land's swift increase;
Equal justice, right and law,
Stately honor and reverend awe;
Sign of a nation, great and strong
Toward her people from foreign wrong;
Pride and glory and honor, all
Live in the colors to stand or fall.
Hats off !
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
And loyal hearts are beating high:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!
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