>In light of the recent appeals court ruling in California, with 
>respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following recollection from 
>Senator John McCain is very appropriate:
>
>The Pledge of Allegiance

>by Senator John McCain



>As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of 
>war  during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, 
>the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. 
>In 1971, the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into 
>large rooms with as many as 30 to 40  men to a room.
>
>This was, as you can imagine, was a wonderful change and was a 
>direct  result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of 
>a few hundred POWs, 10,000 miles from home.
>
>One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike  Christian.
>
>Mike came from a small town near Selma , Alabama. He didn't wear a 
>pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the 
>Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training 
>School. Then he became a Naval Flight Officer, and was shot down and 
>captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the 
>opportunities this country and our military provide for people who 
>want to work and want to succeed.
>
>As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some 
>prisoners  to receive packages from home. In some of these packages 
>were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.
>
>Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of 
>months, he created an American flag and sewed it on the inside of his shirt.
>
>Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's 
>shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
>
>I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part 
>of  our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was 
>indeed the most important and meaningful event.
>
>One day, the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, 
>and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside and removed it.
>
>That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the 
>benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next 
>couple of hours. They opened the door of the cell and threw him in. 
>We cleaned him up as well as we could.
>
>The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on 
>which we slept and four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.
>
>As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the 
>excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room and sitting 
>there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another 
>shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was 
>sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had 
>received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag 
>because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag 
>because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our 
>allegiance to our flag and country.
>
>So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never 
>forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have 
>made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.

>You must remember our duty, our honor and our country.

>"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and 
>to  the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, 
>indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."