I sell flagpoles so if you need a flagpole with flag, I'm here.

I'm not selling flags to earn money. I just give it away. My objective is to get a flagpole in every yard and in front of every business, etc., so that people will know that we live and believe in America.

If you don't have a yard, then I hope you will fly Old Glory on your porch or even on a wall in your home.

My uncle fought for our flag in WW I. That was a horrible war that killed an maimed so many.

My brother and his friends fought in WW II and not all of them came home. I was eager to get in that war but I was only 13 years old when it ended.

I got my turn with the 17th Infantry Regimental Combat Team in Korea. It was a cold and dangerous place.

Some folks I know were in Vietnam. That is one war I'm glad I missed. Can't you still see the damage around you?

Many other young men and women are fighting or fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our V.A. hospitals are flowing over.

I know that some of you fought in other combat operations too.

I salute you all!

Days to Fly Old Glory

You will be a font of knowledge if you know the days you should fly Old Glory. You will be a patriot if you actually fly our flag.

Here are the days according to one of my flagpole catalogs:

New Years Day: to start the year right.

Third Monday in January: to honor Martin Luther King

January 20: because it is Inauguration Day.

February 12: To honor Abraham Lincoln.

Third Monday in February: to honor George Washington.

Easter Sunday: to honor the Easter Bunny.

Second Sunday in May: to honor your dear mother.

May 15: fly your flag at half-staff to honor police officers killed in the line of duty.

Third Saturday in May: to honor the armed forces. It's Armed Forces Day.

Last Monday in May: fly your flag at half-staff until noon to honor our war dead, and then run it all the way up. It's Memorial Day.

June 14: this is Flag Day.

Third Sunday in June: to honor your father.

July 4: to honor our country on Independence Day.

July 27: to honor me and other Korean war vets.

First Monday in September: because it's Labor Day.

September 11: fly your flag at half-mast because it is Patriot Day. (Anyone know what this means?)

September 17: to honor the Constitution.

Last Sunday in September: to honor Gold Star mothers who have lost their sons or daughters in war.

Second Monday in October: because it is Columbus Day.

October 27: it's Navy Day.

First Tuesday in November: because it's Election Day.

November 11: because it is Veteran's Day.

Fourth Thursday in November: it's Thanksgiving Day.

December 7: to honor Pearl Harbor Day.

December 25: to honor Santa Clause.

You may have special days in your state to add to this list. In Utah for example, the pioneer company leading the Mormon migration landed at Pioneer Park on July 24, 1847. Some of my family dragged in a few months later.

Now you know why, at our house, we fly Old Glory everyday. It's a lot easier than trying to remember all of these dates.

You can leave your flag up all night too if you shine a light on it at night. Then you never have to take it down unless it is not a storm flag and you must keep it dry.

Fly Old Glory!

John

Did you see the movie, "To Hell and Back?"

If you want to see the most highly decorated soldier in World War II act out his own life, watch that movie. The winner of the Medal of Honor was Audy Murphy who died in an airplane crash some years back (1971).

Recently, the President awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously to the parents of a young man in Iraq who fell on a hand grenade to save his buddies. His name is Pfc Ross A McGinnis. If you go to the next module you can read my story about this young man and other Medal of Honor winners.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15: 13

Fly Old Glory

Note: This article was approved and published by another writing site. After I blogged the article, the site rejected the article because I talked about a person in the news. Now, that is no problem if I write about George Bush or any other person in the news. They have published scores of articles for me. But I can not write about a dead man who gave his life for his country and his friends in Iraq. Well, I can write about him and other such war heroes here.

The Congressional Medal of Honor

America's highest medal to extremely brave military men and women is the Congressional Medal of Honor. Actions resulting in the award often resulted in the death of the hero. In the Korean war, my war, there were 131 winners and 94 paid with their lives.

Before the award is presented by the President of the United States a stringent process is followed that takes up to 18 months. At times, the process has eliminated worthy individuals or delayed the presentation for many years.

All ranks have won the Medal of Honor including General MacArthur.

Rodger Young

When I was attending West High School in Salt Lake City in the late 1940s, in ROTC we were presented a patriotic talk by are regular army sergeant whose name I can not remember. The purpose of the talk was to create a sense of duty and courage into our teenage minds.

At the end of the talk, the sergeant played a phonograph record with the song The Ballad of Private Rodger Young. The tune still rings in my head: Rodger Young, Rodger Young, fought and died for the men he fought among.

Rodger Young received the Medal of Honor during World War II. His history and citation reads:

Young, a member of the United States National Guard, attained the rank of Sergeant (as shown by his rank insignia in many photographs), but before going to war he requested that his rank be reduced to private. As a result of a childhood accident he had increasing problems with his eyesight and hearing. He had originally joined the National Guard, believing that he would not be accepted into the regular army given his health problems. When his unit was called up he feared that as a sergeant he would be a liability. After being examined by the company doctor, it was determined that Young was now almost completely deaf and he returned to active duty with the rank of private.

On 31 July 1943, on New Georgia, Young's platoon was pinned down by intense fire from a Japanese machine gun concealed on higher ground 75 yards (69 m) away. The initial burst wounded Young. As the platoon started to withdraw, Young called out that he could see the enemy emplacement, and he started creeping toward it. Another burst from the machine gun wounded him a second time. Despite his wounds, he continued his advance, attracting enemy fire and answering with rifle fire. When he was close enough to the machine gun emplacement, he began throwing hand grenades, and while doing so he was hit again and killed. By diverting the fire of the Japanese machine gun, Young allowed his platoon to withdraw without loss. He was also responsible for several enemy casualties.

In 1949, Young's remains were returned to the United States and he is now buried in McPherson Cemetery in Clyde, Ohio.

Read all about Roger Young including the ballad, photographs, and history at:

http://www.medalofhonor.com/RodgerYoung.htm

Audie Murphy

Most all of we old folks know that Audie Murphy was the most decorated soldier of WWII. The movie To Hell and Back reveals his military service in detail. It seems strange that Audie Murphy played himself in the movie, but he did and he did a good job of it.

Read about Audie Murphy at: http://www.medalofhonor.com/MedalOfHonorAudieLMurphy.htm

Alvin York

If you are really old like me, you probably remember the movie, Sergeant York. Gary Cooper ably played the title role.

Corporal Alvin York, from Tennessee, after other noncoms were killed, led his men to capture a German machine gun nest in WWI. They captured over 130 officers and men.

Read about Alvin York at: http://www.medalofhonor.com/Sgt.York.htm

The pics (see one with this article above)show he was a pretty good looking hillbilly.

Pfc. Ross A. McGinnis: Our Most Recent Winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor

Pfc. Ross A. McGinnis died in Iraq saving four men. He dove on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers. President Bush said, "America will always honor the name of this brave soldier." Read more details about Ross and his funeral at Arlington Cemetery at:
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ramcginnis.htm

As I watched President Bush present the medal to Ross' parents, I though of how many brave men behaved bravely exactly as he did. I knew some such men in Korea. I honor them and remember them just as President Bush said.

I will remember Pfc. Ross A.McGinnis.

Our freedoms are not preserved by timidity. Brave men and women have always assured them.

Everyday, as I look out the window at the American Flag on my front lawn, I think of those brave men and women who loved their fellow men more than they loved life itself.

Please Remember Them!

Fly Old Glory!

The End

If you go to www.flag.org you can learn how to respectively treat the American flag.

When I see the flag desecrated as an act of free speech and expression,I want to see the offender eliminated as an act of my free speech and expression.

If the flag is desecrated, it should be burned. The Boy Scouts or veteran groups have the proper ceremony to do this.

What do you think when you see are flag being burned in protest in a foreign nation who we are giving millions in aid?

I say, cut them off.

Our flag is our message to the world that America is a republic that respects the rights of the individual and that we will always defend ourselves to preserve those rights.

Do you know who wrote the constitution? (Hint: look at the pic.)

What do you think?

Fly Old Glory!

John

You might want to go to www.flag.org to learn the history of our flag.

Betsy Ross made flags.

Did she make the first flag for our country? It was decades after the fact when one of her descendants said that she did.

I like family traditions, don't you? Since nobody had come up with a better story, let us all say, "Good job, Betsy!"

Read about Betsy at www.betsyross.org

Fly Old Glory!

John

THE TRAIN TRACK MAN
by
Taylor Jones the Hack Writer

It's not there now
It's under the plow
The home of the
Train Track Man.

But during the war
In 1944
It was a home
Of America's poor.

There was Maria
And Ray
And the twins-Mike and Jay-
The later three off to the war.

They didn't have much
In that tar paper shack
But in the window were
Three Blue Stars.

Then one turned Silver
And another turned Bronze,
Then-all three gleamed Gold-
The boys were gone.

Maria's dad walked the tracks,
And picked up coal which
He sold for money
For a tall flagpole;

He raised Old Glory
In those Utah skies,
And when he raised it,
There were tears in his eyes.

I can still see Maria weeping
At her desk at school:
I can see her dad walking the tracks,
Picking up coal.

They had so little
But they gave so much
In the days of that
Terrible War.

They were Proud as could be
To be America's Free.
They flew Old Glory;
To Remember those who fell.

The End

copyright©2008 John T Jones, Ph.D. (Taylor Jones the Hack Writer)

Fly Old Glory!

John

These are the Citations from MOR.org:

KNAPPENBERGER, ALTON W.
Mr. Knappenberger passed away on June 9th, 2008.

Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Cisterna di Littoria, Italy, 1 February 1944. Entered service at: Spring Mount, Pa. Birth: Cooperstown, Pa. G.O. No.: 41, 26 May 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action involving actual conflict with the enemy, on 1 February 1944 near Cisterna di Littoria, Italy. When a heavy German counterattack was launched against his battalion, Pfc. Knappenberger crawled to an exposed knoll and went into position with his automatic rifle. An enemy machinegun 85 yards away opened fire, and bullets struck within 6 inches of him. Rising to a kneeling position, Pfc. Knappenberger opened fire on the hostile crew, knocked out the gun, killed 2 members of the crew, and wounded the third. While he fired at this hostile position, 2 Germans crawled to a point within 20 yards of the knoll and threw potato-masher grenades at him, but Pfc. Knappenberger killed them both with 1 burst from his automatic rifle. Later, a second machinegun opened fire upon his exposed position from a distance of 100 yards, and this weapon also was silenced by his well-aimed shots. Shortly thereafter, an enemy 20mm. antiaircraft gun directed fire at him, and again Pfc. Knappenberger returned fire to wound 1 member of the hostile crew. Under tank and artillery shellfire, with shells bursting within 15 yards of him, he held his precarious position and fired at all enemy infantrymen armed with machine pistols and machineguns which he could locate. When his ammunition supply became exhausted, he crawled 15 yards forward through steady machinegun fire, removed rifle clips from the belt of a casualty, returned to his position and resumed firing to repel an assaulting German platoon armed with automatic weapons. Finally, his ammunition supply being completely exhausted, he rejoined his company. Pfc. Knappenberger's intrepid action disrupted the enemy attack for over 2 hours.

LUCAS, JACKLYN HAROLD
Mr. Lucas passed away on June 5th, 2008.

Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines, 5th Marine Division. Place and date: Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 20 February 1945. Entered service at: Norfolk, Va. Born: 14 February 1928, Plymouth, N.C. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 1st Battalion, 26th Marines, 5th Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 20 February 1945. While creeping through a treacherous, twisting ravine which ran in close proximity to a fluid and uncertain frontline on D-plus-1 day, Pfc. Lucas and 3 other men were suddenly ambushed by a hostile patrol which savagely attacked with rifle fire and grenades. Quick to act when the lives of the small group were endangered by 2 grenades which landed directly in front of them, Pfc. Lucas unhesitatingly hurled himself over his comrades upon 1 grenade and pulled the other under him, absorbing the whole blasting forces of the explosions in his own body in order to shield his companions from the concussion and murderous flying fragments. By his inspiring action and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice, he not only protected his comrades from certain injury or possible death but also enabled them to rout the Japanese patrol and continue the advance. His exceptionally courageous initiative and loyalty reflect the highest credit upon Pfc. Lucas and the U.S. Naval Service.

HAYASHI, SHIZUYA
Mr. Hayashi passed away on March 12th, 2008.

Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company A, 100th Inf. Bn. Place and date: Near Cerasuolo, Italy, 29 November 1943. Entered service at: Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Born: 28 November 1917, Waialua, Oahu, Hawaii. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Private Shizuya Hayashi distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 29 November 1943, near Cerasuolo, Italy. During a flank assault on high ground held by the enemy, Private Hayashi rose alone in the face of grenade, rifle, and machine gun fire. Firing his automatic rifle from the hip, he charged and overtook an enemy machine gun position, killing seven men in the nest and two more as they fled. After a platoon advance of 200 yards from this point, an enemy antiaircraft gun-position opened fire on the platoon. Private Hayashi returned fire at the hostile position, killing nine of the enemy, taking four prisoners, and forcing the remainder of the force to withdraw from the hill. Private Hayashi's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.

McCOOL, RICHARD MILES,
Mr. McCool passed away on March 5th, 2008.

Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, U.S.S. LSC(L)(3) 122. Place and date: Off Okinawa, 10 and 11 June 1945. Entered service at: Oklahoma. Born: 4 January 1922, Tishomingo, Okla. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. LSC(L)(3) 122 during operations against enemy Japanese forces in the Ryukyu chain, 10 and 11 June 1945. Sharply vigilant during hostile air raids against Allied ships on radar picket duty off Okinawa on 10 June, Lt. McCool aided materially in evacuating all survivors from a sinking destroyer which had sustained mortal damage under the devastating attacks. When his own craft was attacked simultaneously by 2 of the enemy's suicide squadron early in the evening of 11 June, he instantly hurled the full power of his gun batteries against the plunging aircraft, shooting down the first and damaging the second before it crashed his station in the conning tower and engulfed the immediate area in a mass of flames. Although suffering from shrapnel wounds and painful burns, he rallied his concussion-shocked crew and initiated vigorous firefighting measures and then proceeded to the rescue of several trapped in a blazing compartment, subsequently carrying 1 man to safety despite the excruciating pain of additional severe burns. Unmindful of all personal danger, he continued his efforts without respite until aid arrived from other ships and he was evacuated. By his staunch leadership, capable direction, and indomitable determination throughout the crisis, Lt. McCool saved the lives of many who otherwise might have perished and contributed materially to the saving of his ship for further combat service. His valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of extreme peril sustains and enhances the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

HERRERA, SILVESTRE S.
Mr. Herrera passed away on November 26, 2007.

Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company E, 142d Infantry, 36th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Mertzwiller, France, 15 March 1945. Entered service at: Phoenix, Ariz. Birth: El Paso, Tex. G.O. No.: 75, 5 September 1945. Citation: He advanced with a platoon along a wooded road until stopped by heavy enemy machinegun fire. As the rest of the unit took cover, he made a 1-man frontal assault on a strongpoint and captured 8 enemy soldiers. When the platoon resumed its advance and was subjected to fire from a second emplacement beyond an extensive minefield, Pvt. Herrera again moved forward, disregarding the danger of exploding mines, to attack the position. He stepped on a mine and had both feet severed but, despite intense pain and unchecked loss of blood, he pinned down the enemy with accurate rifle fire while a friendly squad captured the enemy gun by skirting the minefield and rushing in from the flank. The magnificent courage, extraordinary heroism, and willing self-sacrifice displayed by Pvt. Herrera resulted in the capture of 2 enemy strongpoints and the taking of 8 prisoners.

DEBLANC, JEFFERSON JOSEPH
Mr. DeBlanc passed away on November 22, 2007.

Rank and Organization: Captain, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Marine Fighting Squadron 112. Place and date: Off Kolombangara Island in the Solomons group, 31 January 1943. Entered service at: Louisiana. Born: 15 February 1921, Lockport, La. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as leader of a section of 6 fighter planes in Marine Fighting Squadron 112, during aerial operations against enemy Japanese forces off Kolombangara Island in the Solomons group, 31 January 1943. Taking off with his section as escort for a strike force of dive bombers and torpedo planes ordered to attack Japanese surface vessels, 1st Lt. DeBlanc led his flight directly to the target area where, at 14,000 feet, our strike force encountered a large number of Japanese Zeros protecting the enemy's surface craft. In company with the other fighters, 1st Lt. DeBlanc instantly engaged the hostile planes and aggressively countered their repeated attempts to drive off our bombers, persevering in his efforts to protect the diving planes and waging fierce combat until, picking up a call for assistance from the dive bombers, under attack by enemy float planes at 1,000 feet, he broke off his engagement with the Zeros, plunged into the formation of float planes and disrupted the savage attack, enabling our dive bombers and torpedo planes to complete their runs on the Japanese surface disposition and withdraw without further incident. Although his escort mission was fulfilled upon the safe retirement of the bombers, 1st Lt. DeBlanc courageously remained on the scene despite a rapidly diminishing fuel supply and, boldly challenging the enemy's superior number of float planes, fought a valiant battle against terrific