[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!

                          ____________________