Flag Day, Red Skelton, Sir Walter Scott, Johnny Cash and Mom

I can think of few things more appropriate for Flag Day than Red Skelton’s immortal explanation of the Pledge of Allegiance.  When my sainted mother became a naturalized American citizen, she was given a little American flag.  I have a treasured photo of my Mom and Dad just after the naturalization ceremony, both happy, and my Mom clutching the flag of a land that she loved long before she became a citizen.  I still have the flag, one of my most precious mementoes of my Mom.

A flag of course is only physically a piece of fabric, sometimes described disparagingly by cynics as a rag on a stick.   Sir Walter Scott described such people well long ago:

Tribute to Torpedo Squadron 8

And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his gods?

Thomas Babington Macaulay

Director John Ford served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II making films.  Here is a film that he made as a tribute to the men of Torpedo Squadron Eight from the Hornet, who, as noted last week in a post on Midway, which may be read here, played a pivotal role, along with Torpedo Squadron 6 from the Enterprise, by their sacrificial heroism in attacking the well guarded Japanese carriers, knowing that they would almost certainly not survive.  The film was originally intended only for the families of those gallant men, all but one of whom died in their attack on the Japanese carriers on June 4th.