[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8852-8853]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                FLAG DAY

  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, as do all West Virginians, I feel a 
special surge of emotion every time I see the American flag. After all, 
Old Glory is the most enduring symbol of our country, representing the 
unity of our people and the cause of liberty and justice for all.
  But the Star Spangled Banner is also the most recognized symbol of 
freedom wherever it flies in the world, a powerful inspiration to 
people everywhere who are ``yearning to breathe free,'' as it is 
inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.

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  Every day, Americans all across this great land pledge their 
allegiance to the flag of the United States. We salute it; we fight for 
it; we cherish it; we honor it.
  But one day a year, we pay special honor to our flag. We set aside 
every June 14th as Flag Day, commemorating the date in 1777 when the 
Continental Congress officially made the Stars and Stripes the symbol 
of America.
  Tomorrow, my office is planning special events in West Virginia 
commemorating Flag Day. Members of my staff will be presenting American 
flags to selected organizations all across the State that have 
requested flags:
  To veterans in Logan at the ``Spirit of the Doughboy'' statue, which 
honors the victorious American soldiers of World War One.
  To the Veterans Museum of Mid-Ohio Valley in Parkersburg, which pays 
tribute to West Virginians who have fought to preserve this country's 
freedom.
  To Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, in conjunction with its Team 
River Runner program which includes kayaking programs for wounded 
warriors and their families.
  To American Legion Post 33, in Sutton, honoring them for conducting 
memorial services for veterans in Braxton County.
  To the City Council of Wardensville, to be displayed at the 
Wardensville Town Office.
  To the ``Here and There'' Transit of Philippi, as part of the 
dedication of its new operations facilities.
  And to the West Virginia Northern Community College in Wheeling, 
which only last month opened its Applied Technology Center to veterans 
and other students.
  Flag Day has a special significance to West Virginia. Our State was 
born out of the fiery conflict of the Civil War, and next week we will 
celebrate our 150th birthday.
  In that terrible war, West Virginians had a choice of two flags. We 
chose to follow the Stars and Stripes and in doing so, West Virginia 
became the 35th star on that Grand Old Flag.
  So as we prepare for our State's 150th birthday celebration, I urge 
all West Virginians to join me in celebrating Flag Day--by displaying 
the flag that from the first days of America came to symbolize a ``new 
constellation'' of hope and freedom and from the first days of West 
Virginia came to represent an allegiance to our remarkable 
Constitution.
  In doing so, we honor not only our flag, but also the ideals on which 
America was founded as well as the generations of Americans who have 
defended those ideals in battle, always ensuring at the end of the 
fight that ``our flag was still there.''
  The Star Spangled Banner is a symbol of their sacrifice and our 
faith.
  Not long after Congress officially adopted the Stars and Stripes as 
the flag of the United States, George Washington said, ``We take the 
stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by 
white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the 
white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty.''
  But a little poem I learned as a child from my Uncle Jimmy perfectly 
captures how I feel about the American flag even now:

     It's only some stripes of red and white.
     It's only some stars on a field of blue.
     It's only a little cotton flag.
     Does it mean anything to you?
     Oh yes it does,
     For beneath its folds
     Our people are safe at land and sea.
     It stands for a land where God is still king,
     And His truth and His freedoms are free.
     So let us love it well
     And keep it pure as our banner of liberty.

  This ``little cotton flag'' is displayed proudly in our homes, in our 
schools, in our businesses, over the Capitol and the White House, in 
parades and ballparks, on the field of battle, and on the graves of the 
heroes who fought in those battles.
  It has flown from the tops of mountains, from the 9/11 rubble of 
Ground Zero, over the scarred wall of the Pentagon and from the surface 
of the moon--not once, not twice, but six times.
  May our beautiful flag ever wave, and may God ever bless the country 
for which it stands.

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