By Jan Mills
Celebrating July Fourth in Googling, which is what we do today, I found some little known facts about our national holiday. For instance:
• July Fourth celebrates the adoption, not the signing, of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress.
• On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed a committee of five — including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson — to draft a Declaration of Independence.
• John Hancock was the first of 56 men to sign the Declaration of Independence, He was president of Congress at the time.
• Most of the signers of the Declaration did so on Aug. 2, 1776.
• The Fourth of July didn’t become a federal holiday until 1970.
• Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird, but John Adams and Thomas Jefferson recommended the bald eagle. Aren’t we glad they won that debate?
I don’t think any of us truly realize the risks these men were taking in 1776. George Washington signed up to lead a ragtag army of men who had little or no military training against the strongest military force at that time. Had he or any of the signers of that document been taken prisoner, they would have been shipped to England and tried for treason. They would have been executed and all their possessions taken from their families.
George Washington would have been drawn and quartered, which means one leg tied to a horse, the other leg tied to another horse, an arm tied to another horse and the other arm tied to yet another horse. The horses would have been slapped and would have taken off in four different directions. This is what they risked to make ours a free nation, no longer under the rule of a king.
I have written this column multiple times over the last two weeks and each time deleted it and began over. I am a flag-waver. Not any kind of flag-waver, but an “Old Glory” flag-waver, a “Stars and Stripes Forever” flag-waver, and I am proud to stand when the colors come by on parade or are raised in a stadium.
I stand proudly, place my hand over my heart and sing when the “Star Spangled Banner” is played..even in my living room. The flag waves proudly in my front yard. I love to sing loudly along with Lee Greenwood as he sings “God Bless the USA” and every time, I cry.
My heart swells with pride during each Olympic game when the gold medal is placed around an American athlete’s neck, the national anthem is played and the flag is raised slowly.
The flag has flown in every war ever fought by the United States. She has been bloodied, torn, stepped on, burned and defiled. Men have run to pick her up during battle to keep her colors flying and lead our soldiers on. Many dying in the process.
It has flown over the frozen winters at Valley Forge, the blazing guns at Gettysburg, the mosquitoes of the Panama Canal, the waters of Pearl Harbor, the beaches of Normandy, the frozen ground of Korea, the jungles of Vietnam, the deserts of Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, and she was raised triumphantly over the ashes of the World Trade Center.
When I see our flag being belittled and hear that someone wants to remove the playing of the national anthem at ballgames, my heart hurts and my blood boils. Obviously, none of these individuals have ever sent a family member off to war to fight for the liberties and the freedom they enjoy daily.
I wonder if any of them ever attended the funeral with a flag-draped coffin of a family member or friend, listened to taps or watched as the flag was slowly folded with reverence and placed in the hands of a grieving wife, parent or child.
I am an American. To all those reading this column who served our country in the military during peace and war, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
God bless the USA!
Jan Mills is The Enterprise’s customer service representative. Reach her at 252-478-3651 and jmills.enterprise@wilsontimes.com.
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July 15, 2020 at 10:00AM
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Founders risked all for America's freedom | The Enterprise - Spring Hope Enterprise
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