I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG,
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
AND TO THE REPULIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION,
UNDER GOD,
INDIVIDIBLE, WITH LIBERTY
AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

 I watched the Flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the Breeze.

A young Marine Saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at Him in uniform so young,
so tall, so proud.  With hair cut square
and eyes alert, He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
had fallen through out the years.
How many died on foreign soil.
How many mother's tears?

How Many pilot's planes shot down?
How many died at sea.
How many foxholes were soldiers graves?
No, Freedom isn't Free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night.
When everything was still, I listened to the bugler
play and felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times that Taps had meant 'AMEN'

When a flag had drapped the coffin of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
of the mother's and the wives.
Of father's, sons and husbands
with interupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
at the bottom of the sea.

Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, Freedom isn't Free.

So next time you see a Sailor, Soldier, Marine, or Airman.
Give tham a pat on the back and shake their hand,
Thanking them for all you have in this great land.