I stand and salute

When the flag goes by

And I plan to do so

Until the day I die.

I remember Pearl Harbor

On December 7 of '41,

When the sailors died

At the hands of the Rising Sun!

Within the ships they remain,

Keeping muster where they lie,

No longer can they salute the flag,

For some sailors have to die!

All across the Pacific Sea,

From islands great and small,

Soldiers , Sailors, and Marines

Were called upon to give their all.

They can no longer salute

The flag as it goes by,

But those Americans alive today

Can do so until they die!

In Europe's bloody fields

Where poppies now grow,

Marking all the graves

Glistening row on row.

The only saluting here

Is done by those above the sod,

Where they commit those below

To the gracious hand of God.

I remember the flying men

of wars now gone by,

Whose crippled planes

Were shot from the sky.

Nor can they salute the flag

For they too, have died.

But those of us who live

Can salute the flag with pride!

Freedom is never cheap,

And Liberty sheds her tears.

Wars come and wars go,

Marching onward through the years.

But the Flag still reminds us all

That this is the home of the free,

So this old veteran asks the question:

Will you salute the flag with me?

Copyright © C. Douglas Caffey
All Rights Reserved