A Tribute To Those Who Defended Our Flag

By  //  May 25, 2014

EDITOR’S NOTE: Please see this great tribute video “Ragged Old Flag.” The late Johnny Cash read the words to this tribute the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in defense of the U.S. flag, and we invite  you to devote some time during this final day of Memorial Day Weekend to honor the men and women who have selflessly defended our nation. 

“Ragged Old Flag”

I walked through a county courthouse square

On a park bench, an old man was sittin’ there.

I said, “Your old court house is kinda run down,

He said, “Naw, it’ll do for our little town”.

I said, “Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,And that’s a ragged old flag you got hangin’ on it.”

He said, “Have a seat”, and I sat down.

“Is this the first time you’ve been to our little town”

I said, “I think it is”

He said “I don’t like to brag, but we’re kinda proud ofnThat Ragged Old Flag.

You see, we got a little hole in that flag there,When Washington took it across the Delaware.

And It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it,writing “Say Can You See”

It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & Jackson tugging at its seams.

And It almost fell at the Alamo beside the Texas flag,but she waved on though.

She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville,and she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.

There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,and the south wind blew hard on

That Ragged Old Flag.

On Flanders Field in World War I,she got a big hole from a Bertha Gun.

She turned blood red in World War II

She hung limp, and low, a time or two.

She was in Korea, Vietnam, She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.

She waved from our ships upon the briny foam and now they’ve about quit wavin’ back here at home.

In her own good land here She’s been abused.

She’s been burned, dishonored, denied an’ refused.

And the government for which she stands has been scandalized throughout out the land.

And she’s getting thread bare, and she’s wearin’ thin.

But she’s in good shape, for the shape she’s in.

Cause she’s been through the fire before and i believe she can take a whole lot more.

So we raise her up every morning and we bring her down slow every night,

We don’t let her touch the ground,and we fold her up right.

On second thought ,I do like to brag

Cause I’m mighty proud of That Ragged Old Flag”