Happy Fourth of July
To All of my Visitors
And Many United States Friends

FREEDOM DAY

Is this just another stupid holiday we celebrate? Is there a special reason it falls on this date? What happened then that we should know 'Cause it came to pass so long ago. Is anyone alive that can show Why we should celebrate with fireworks aglow?
How about the minute men who answered the call to arms The ones who came running from the cities and the farms. Did they run to answer the trumpets call To face the King's men and in battle fall? Did Valley Forge cast a pall? How many thousand men gave their all?
The War of 1812 is hard to read about Did General Jackson cause a rout? At New Orleans where he made a stand And the British came marching behind a band The men waited as the General planned When the shooting was over, the British scrammed.
I stand and listen to a band coming down the lane Sounds like their playing Dixie's refrain. These men who wore the blue and gray Who fought each other for a different way To live in freedom should they have the right to say? We also helped create this 4th of July holiday.
The heroes are gone and no longer fill The ranks of the men who charged up San Juan Hill. Still a few doughboys left that can tell Of what went on at the battle of St Miehel Or the Argonne or how mustard gas smells When it burns your lungs to empty shells.
What can you say to the men who in the Arizona sleep Or to their comrades cradled in the deep? Or the unknowns who sleep in foreign lands Or those buried beneath desert sands? What do you say to a veteran with no arms or hands. Or to a legless veteran who never again will stand.
To these brave men who made and saved this Holiday You are the ones we think of when the band begins to play. And when the freedom bells begin to peal And when the sunset across the marble crosses steal Time to thank these men when the sound of Taps reveal Their sacrifice made the 4th of July real.
Copyright © Elmer Ake

Thank you Elmer for writing this lovely poem as a reminder of what the 4th of July represents. 
I am honored to display it on my page.

MY THANKS TO DOC FOR THE USE OF HIS MILITARY GRAPHICS