FOURTH OF JULY
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. A DECLARATION By the REPRESENTATIVES of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, In GENERAL CONGRESS assembled

When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness-That tosecure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, derivingtheir just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever anyForm of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right ofthe People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers insuch Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety andHappiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments longestablished should not be changed for light and transient Causes; andaccordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed tosuffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves byabolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a longTrain of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object,evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is theirRight, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to providenew Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patientSufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity whichconstrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. TheHistory of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeatedInjuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishmentof an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts besubmitted to a candid World.

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He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary forthe public Good.

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He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressingImportance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent shouldbe obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attendto them.
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He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of largeDistricts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right ofRepresentation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, andformidable to Tyrants only.

He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual,uncomfortable , and distant from the Depository of their Public Records,for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with hisMeasures.

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He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing withmanly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.
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He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause othersto be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable ofAnnihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise;the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers ofInvasion from without, and Convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for thatPurpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusingto pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising theConditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

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He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assentto Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
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He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of theirOffices, and the Amount and payment of their Salaries.

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He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms ofOfficers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.
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He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without theconsent of our Legislatures.

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He has affected to render the Military independent of, and superior tothe Civil Power.
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He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign toour Constitution, and unacknowledged by out Laws; giving his Assent totheir Acts of pretended Legislation:

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For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:
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For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murderswhich they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

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For Cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:
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For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

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For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
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For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:

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For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouringProvince, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlargingits Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrumentfor introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:
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For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, andaltering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

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For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves investedwith Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.
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He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protectionand waging War against us.

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He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, anddestroyed the Lives of our People.
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He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries tocompleat the works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun withcircumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the mostbarbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

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He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas tobear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of theirFriends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
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He has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured tobring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages,whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of allAges, Sexes and Conditions.

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In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress inthe most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered onlyby repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by everyact which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a freePeople.
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Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We havewarned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extendan unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealedto their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them bythe Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which,would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They toohave been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must,therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation,and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace,Friends.

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We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, inGeneral Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the Worldfor the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authorityof the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, Thatthese United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free andIndependent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to theBritish Crown, and that all political Connection between them and theState of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and thatas Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War,conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do allother Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And forthe support of this declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protectionof divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, ourFortunes, and our sacred Honor.

JOHN HANCOCK, President

Attest.
CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.

SIGNERS
Adams, John MA Lawyer
Adams, Samuel MA Political leader
Bartlett, Josiah NH Physician, Judge
Braxton, Carter VA Farmer
Carroll, Charles of Carrollton MD Lawyer
Chase, Samuel MD Judge
Clark, Abraham NJ Surveyor
Clymer, George PA Merchant
Ellery, William RI Lawyer
Floyd, William NY Soldier
Franklin, Benjamin PA Printer, Publisher
Gerry, Elbridge MA Merchant
Gwinnett, Button GA Merchant
Hall, Lyman GA Physician
Hancock, John MA Merchant
Harrison, Benjamin VA Farmer
Hart, John NJ Farmer
Hewes, Joseph NC Merchant
Heyward, Thomas Jr. SC Lawyer, Farmer
Hooper, William NC Lawyer
Hopkins, Stephen RI Judge, Educator
Hopkinson, Francis NJ Judge, Author
Huntington, Samuel CT Judge
Jefferson, Thomas VA Lawyer
Lee, Francis Lightfoot VA Farmer
Lee, Richard Henry VA Farmer
Lewis, Francis NY Merchant
Livingston, Philip NY Merchant
Lynch, Thomas Jr. SC Farmer
McKean, Thomas DE Lawyer
Middleton, Arthur SC Farmer
Morris, Lewis NY Farmer
Morris, Robert PA Merchant
Morton, John PA Judge
Nelson, Thomas Jr. VA Farmer
Paca, William MD Judge
Paine, Robert Treat MA Judge
Penn, John NC Lawyer
Read, George DE Judge
Rodney, Caesar DE Judge
Ross, George PA Judge
Rush, Benjamin PA Physician
Rutledge, Edward SC Lawyer
Sherman, Roger CT Lawyer
Smith, James PA Lawyer
Stockton, Richard NJ Lawyer
Stone, Thomas MD Lawyer
Taylor, George PA Ironmaster
Thornton, Matthew NH Physician
Walter, George GA Judge
Whipple, William NH Merchant, Judge
Williams, William CT Merchant
Wilson, James PA Judge
Witherspoon, John NJ Educator
Wolcott, Oliver CT Judge
Wythe, George VA Lawyer

THE BEGINNING OF THE KOREAN WAR

June 25, 1950

At the end of World War II Korea was split in two. The North was Communist with a leader, Kim il Sung, who had been trained in the USSR. The South was anti Communist and its leader Syngman Rhee was backed by the USA. The two leaders detested each other. The hostility between the two states spilled into open warfare in 1950.

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From the day when North Koreans attacked South Korea on June 25, 1950 to the day of the armistice on July 27, 1953, at the end of the war, more than 3 million Koreans died while millions of refugees remained homeless and distraught. About 1 million Chinese died in the war and American casualties numbered 54,246 people.

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The Korean War can be divided into three phases.
•The first phase began on June 25, 1950 and ended on the day United Nations (U.N) forces thrust into North Korea's territory.

• The second phase of the Korean War was essentially the Southern unit's attack and retreat from North Korea.

• The last phase of the war consisted of the "see-saw" fighting on the thirty-eighth parallel, stalemate, and negotiation talks.

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On June 25, 1950 at 4 a.m., 70,000 North Korean troops crossed the thirty-eighth parallel. President Truman appealed to the United Nations to take "police action" against the "unwarranted" attack. Hence, under the "name of the United Nations", the United States was able to send troops and forces.

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On June 29, the North Korean Army, Korean People's Army (KPA), pressed southward and captured Seoul. The U.N forces were on the defensive side until September 15 when the American forces, under the command of General MacArthur successfully landed on Inchon. The landing allowed the U.N forces to break through the Pusan perimeter, to retake Seoul, and to cross the thirty-eighth parallel by September 30. By the end of the first phase of the Korean war, 111,000 South Koreans died and 57,000 were missing.

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In the second phase of the Korean War, KPA forces were in retreat. In two days, the Southern forces were approximately 25 miles north of the parallel. Thereafter, they marched toward the Yalu River with almost no resistance from the Northern units.

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The unexpected decision of China's entry into the war in early October turned the tide of the war. The Northern units, consisting of Sino-Korean troops, sent the U.N forces retreating again. On December 6, the Communist forces retook Pyongyang. And by the end of December, they re-crossed the parallel and retook Seoul.

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During the months of May and April of 1951, there was a sort of "see-saw" fighting along the thirty-eighth parallel with neither units really advancing beyond the parallel. By summer of 1951, talks for an armistice began.

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Throughout mid-1951 to 1953, negotiation for peace treaty stalled and reopened. A major issue that stalled negotiations was whether POWs should be repatriated on voluntary basis or not. In addition, accusations about war crimes committed by United
States stalled negotiations and in a bid to intimidate North Korea and to end the war quickly, the use of nuclear weapons were considered. The armistice was finally signed on July 27, 1953.

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Why did America get involved in the Korean War?
China had become Communist in 1949 and this really worried the Americans. They were worried that Communism was spreading throughout the world, the existence of COMINFORM seemed to confirm this.

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The USA was keen that the rest of the Far East and South East Asia would not fall to the Communists as well. E.g. (countries like Malaya, Indonesia, Burma and Vietnam)

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Remember the Domino Theory.
Technically American troops weren’t fighting the Korean War. The United Nations sent troops from its member states to ‘keep peace’. As America was the most important and richest country in the U.N. it sent the most troops and supplied most of the weapons. In reality America dominated the U.N. and influenced its allies into supporting what it was doing in Korea.

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What were the Lessons of the Korean War?
The USA learnt that there were risks associated with the policy of containment. Over one million people died in the war and what started out as confrontation with North Korea quickly got out of hand when China, the country with the worlds largest army,
became involved.

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America underestimated the Chinese. American troops ignored Chinese warnings and got too close to the Chinese boarder. In October 1950 200,000 Chinese troops joined the North Koreans. These troops had been taught to hate the Americans and were
prepared to die for Communism. They also had modern weapons supplied by the USSR.

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If America wanted to confront Communism she had to be careful. The American General in charge in Korea, Douglas MacArthur

was sacked by President Truman because he not only wanted to free South Korea but he wanted to remove the communists from North Korea and then carry the war on into China! He even asked for permission to use nuclear weapons, which was refused as this could easily have sparked a world war.

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Even though America was by far the most powerful country in the world there were limits to its power. Containment was a policy that had its limitations. It was one thing to try and contain the spread of communism but when America attempted to go further and expel the Communists out of North Korea it was simply not prepared for the escalation that followed.

Battle of Okinawa ended on June 21, 1945
(The last battle of Wold War II - I was a member of the 1st Marine Division)
Okinawa was the largest amphibious invasion of the Pacific campaign and the last major campaign of the Pacific War. More ships were used, more troops put ashore, more supplies transported, more bombs dropped, more naval guns fired against shore targets than any other operation in the Pacific. More people died during the Battle of Okinawa than all those killed during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Casualties totaled more than 38,000 Americans wounded and 12,000 killed or missing, more than 107,000 Japanese and Okinawan conscripts killed, and perhaps 100,000 Okinawan civilians who perished in the battle.

The battle of Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. Thirty-four allied ships and craft of all types had been sunk, mostly by kamikazes, and 368 ships and craft damaged. The fleet had lost 763 aircraft. Total American casualties in the operation numbered over 12,000 killed [including nearly 5,000 Navy dead and almost 8,000 Marine and Army dead] and 36,000 wounded. Navy casualties were tremendous, with a ratio of one killed for one wounded as compared to a one to five ratio for the Marine Corps. Combat stress also caused large numbers of psychiatric casualties, a terrible hemorrhage of front-line strength. There were more than 26,000 non-battle casualties. In the battle of Okinawa, the rate of combat losses due to battle stress, expressed as a percentage of those caused by combat wounds, was 48% [in the Korean War the overall rate was about 20-25%, and in the Yom Kippur War it was about 30%]. American losses at Okinawa were so heavy as to illicite Congressional calls for an investigation into the conduct of the military commanders. Not surprisingly, the cost of this battle, in terms of lives, time, and material, weighed heavily in the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan just six weeks later.

Japanese human losses were enormous: 107,539 soldiers killed and 23,764 sealed in caves or buried by the Japanese themselves; 10,755 captured or surrendered. The Japanese lost 7,830 aircraft and 16 combat ships. Since many Okinawan residents fled to caves where they subsequently were entombed the precise number of civilian casualties will probably never be known, but the lowest estimate is 42,000 killed. Somewhere between one-tenth and one-fourth of the civilian population perished, though by some estimates the battle of Okinawa killed almost a third of the civilian population. According to US Army records during the planning phase of the operation, the assumption was that Okinawa was home to about 300,000 civilians. At the conclusion of hostilities around 196,000 civilians remained. However, US Army figures for the 82 day campaign showed a total figure of 142,058 civilian casualties, including those killed by artillery fire, air attacks and those who were pressed into service by the Japanese army.

By April, 1945 German resistance in the European Campaign was on the verge of collapse, but the Empire of Japan continued to defiantly resist American advances across the Pacific. Strategically located some 400 miles south of Japan, possession of Okinawa would enable the Allies to cut Japan's sea lines of communication and isolate it from its vital sources of raw materials in the south. If the invasion of Japan proved necessary, Okinawa's harbors, anchorages, and airfields could be used to stage the ships, troops, aircraft, and supplies necessary for the amphibious assault. The island had several Japanese air bases and the only two substantial harbors between Formosa and Kyushu.

The outbreak of hostilities in China during the 1930s initially had little impact on the inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands, a chain running southwest from the Japanese home island of Kyushu toward Taiwan. Despite its size, of approximately 480 square miles and its population of perhaps 500,000, Okinawa had neither surplus food nor a great deal of industry to assist the Japanese effort. Its harbor facilities were unsuitable for large warships. The island's main contribution to the war effort lay in the production of sugarcane, which could be converted into commercial alcohol for torpedoes and engines.

From the first days of the Asia-Pacific war, Okinawa was fortified as the location of airbases and as the frontline in the defense of mainland Japan. Land and farms were forcibly expropriated throughout Okinawa and the Imperial Japanese Army began the construction of airbases.

By late October 1944, Okinawa, in the Ryukyu Island chain, had been targeted for invasion by Allied forces. This invasion -- code named Operation Iceberg --- would see the assembling of the greatest naval armada ever. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's 5th fleet was to include more than 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 200 destroyers and hundreds of assorted support ships. Some 1,300 US ships surrounded the island. Of those, 365 were amphibious ships. Over 182,000 troops would make up the assault, planned for 01 April 1945, Easter Sunday. On 29 September 1944 B-29 bombers conducted the initial reconnaissance mission over Okinawa and its outlying islands. On 10 October 1944 nearly two hundred of Admiral Halsey's planes struck Naha, Okinawa's capital and principal city, in five separate waves. The city was almost totally devastated. The American war against Japan was coming inexorably closer to the Japanese homeland.

In mid-March 1945, the American fleet of over 1,300 ships gathered off Okinawa for the naval bombardment The first kamikaze attacks of the Okinawan campaign began on 18 March 1945. On 21 March, the first baka or piloted, suicide rocket bombs, were spotted below Japanese "Betty" bombers.

The invasion began on 01 April 1945 when 60,000 troops (two Marine and two Army divisions) landed with little opposition. The day began and ended with the heaviest concentration of naval gunfire ever expended to support an amphibious landing. Gathered off the invasion beaches were 10 older American battleships, including several Pearl Harbor survivors—the USS Tennessee, Maryland, and West Virginia—as well as 9 cruisers, 23 destroyers and destroyer escorts, and 117 rocket gunboats. Together they fired 3,800 tons of shells at Okinawa during the first 24 hours. Okinawans had long been resigned to the severe typhoons that sweep their land, but nothing in their experience prepared them for the tetsu no bow —- the "storm of steel" —- as one Okinawan characterized the assault on the island. At 0830 the 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions of the XXIV Corps and the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions of the III Amphibious Corps crossed the Hagushi beaches, with 16,000 troops landing unopposed in the first hour. By nightfall more than 60,000 were ashore.

Although Okinawa was strongly defended by more than 100,000 troops, the Japanese chose not to defend the beaches. The uncontested landings of 01 April were part of the overall Japanese strategy to avoid casualties defending the beach against overwhelming Allied firepower. A system of defense in depth, especially in the southern portion of the island, would permit the 100,000-man-strong Japanese 32nd Army under General Ushijima to fight a protracted battle that would put both the attacking amphibious forces and naval armada at risk. The Japanese dug into caves and tunnels on the high ground away from the beaches in an attempt to negate the Allies' superior sea and air power.

The battle proceeded in four phases: first, the advance to the eastern coast (April 1-4); second, the clearing of the northern part of the island (April 5-18); third, the occupation of the outlying islands (April 10 - June 26); and fourth, the main battle against the dug in elements of the 32nd Army which began on 06 April and did not end until 21 June. Although the first three phases encountered only mild opposition, the final phase proved extremely difficult because the Japanese were well entrenched in and naval gunfire support was ineffective.

On April 6-7, the first use of massed formations of hundreds of kamikaze aircraft called kikusui, or "floating chrysanthemum", for the imperial symbol of Japan, began. By the end of the Okinawan campaign, 1,465 kamikaze flights were flown from Kyushu to sink 30 American ships and damage 164 others. The Japanese had devised a plan to load-up high-speed motorboats with high explosives and have them attack the American Fleet. The boats were hidden in caves up rivers and pulled inside along railroad tracks. The plan never was carried out, however.

The Japanese battleship, Yamato, the largest warship ever built accompanied by the light cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers, was dispatched to Okinawa on 06 April 1945, with no protective air cover. So badly depleted was the Japanese fleet by this time, Yamato was reported to carry only enough fuel for a one-way trip to Okinawa. Her mission: beach herself at Okinawa and fight until eliminated. The American submarine Hackleback tracked her movements and alerted carrier-based bombers. Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher launched air strikes on April 7 at 10 a.m. The first hits on Yamato were claimed by the carrier Bennington. San Jacinto planes sunk the destroyer Hamakaze, with a bomb and torpedo hit. The light cruiser Yahagi was hit by bombs and went dead in the water. For the next two hours, the Japanese force was under constant attack. Yamato took 12 bombs and seven torpedo hits within two hours, finally blowing up and sinking. Three accompanying destroyers were so badly damaged they had to be scuttled. Four remaining destroyers could not return to Japan. Of Yamato's crew of 2,747, all but 23 officers and 246 enlisted men were lost. Yahagi lost 446; Asashimo lost 330; the seven destroyers, 391 officers and men. There were few Japanese survivors. Losses to the Americans were 10 planes and 12 men. This was the last Japanese naval action of the war.

By 19 April soldiers and marines of the US Tenth Army under LGEN Buckner USA were engaged in a fierce battle along a fortified front which represented the outer ring of the Shuri Line. This fighting contrasted dramatically with the unopposed landings and initial rapid advances of the previous weeks. The Shuri defenses were deeply dug into the limestone cliffs and boasted mutually supporting positions as well as a wealth of artillery of various calibers. As the battle dragged on, American casualties mounted. This delay in securing the island caused great consternation among the naval commanders since the fleet of almost 1,600 ships was exposed to heavy enemy air attacks. The most damage from the Japanese attacks came from operation Ten-Go (Heavenly Operation) which employed mass deployment of the fearsome kamikaze.

American losses mounted as soldiers and marines assaulted points on the Shuri line with the deceptive names of Sugar Loaf, Chocolate Drop, Conical Hill, Strawberry Hill, and Sugar Hill. During the course of the battle American forces were informed of two pieces of dramatic news, one tragic and the other joyous. The first was the death of president Franklin Roosevelt on 12 April and the latter the surrender of Nazi Germany on 8 May.

By the end of May monsoon rains which turned contested slopes and roads into a morass exacerbated both the tactical and medical situations. The ground advance began to resemble a World War I battlefield as troops became mired in mud and flooded roads greatly inhibited evacuation of wounded to the rear. Troops lived on a field sodden by rain, part garbage dump and part graveyard. Unburied Japanese bodies decayed, sank in the mud, and became part of a noxious stew. Anyone sliding down the greasy slopes could easily find their pockets full of maggots at the end of the journey.

Heavy pressure on the Shuri Line finally convinced GEN Ushijima to withdraw southward to his final defensive positions on the Kiyamu Peninsula. His troops began moving out on the night of 23 May but were careful to leave behind rear guard elements that continued to slow the American advance. Japanese soldiers too wounded to travel were given lethal injections of morphine or simply left behind to die. By the first week of June, US forces had captured only 465 enemy troops while claiming 62,548 killed. It would take 2 more weeks of hard fighting and an additional 2 weeks of "mopping up " operations pitting explosives and flamethrowers against determined pockets of resistance before the battle would finally be over. The so called "mopping up" fighting between 23 and 29 June netted an additional 9,000 enemy dead and 3,800 captured. Among the Japanese, the incidence of suicide soared during the final days. An examination of enemy dead revealed that, rather than surrender, many had held grenades against their stomachs, ending their personal war in that manner. General Ushijima committed ritual suicide (hara-kiri) on 16 June, convinced that he done his duty in service to the Emperor.

The document ending the Battle of Okinawa was signed on what is now Kadena Air Base on 07 September 1945. Long before the firing stopped on Okinawa, engineers and construction battalions, following close on the heels of the combat forces, were transforming the island into a major base for the projected invasion of the Japanese home islands.

THE AMERICAN FLAG
In 1909 a souvenir edition of poems were published by Emory W. Justus entitled "Life's Golden Dreams." The book had about one hundred pages and about that number of poems, written in years past from time to time.

Since the little book appeared and received such favorable comment from literary circles and the Metropolitan Press of the country, the author received a larger measure of inspiration and wrote with more ease than ever before, perhaps in all as many as five hundred poems.

On this page you will find one picked poem he took from all his writings to represent the best thought of a life assiduously devoted to study of good literature.

His writings served as a recreation from his arduous school duties and brought him joys untold. He wrote not from necessity, but for the love of it. Truly, he could have said his compositions were a labor of love.

To him there was no joy in this world like the joy of creation.

He fully concurred in the thought contained in the following lines:

'''Tis well to borrow of the good and great,

'Tis wise to learn but Godlike to create.''

Should he have never reaped one dollar of profit from the sale of this book he has already been blessed a hundredfold.

BEAUTIFUL flag, today so grand!

Fair ensign of happy land,

Whose wish is same as command,

In this and every other land.

Sweet emblem of eternal love!

With stars as bright as above,

With stripes of rose and violet, too,

In colors of red, white and blue.

Her empire is from sea to sea,

Flag of our Country, dear to me!

The banner of the noble free,

The Flag of all humanity!

The Flag for me, the Flag for you,

In folds of amaranthine hue,

Flag of the Bard's enchanted song,

The muse's dream, through ages long!

Our bonny Flag, red, white and blue,

Ordained of God for me and you,

The flag to Freedom, long unfurled,

The glory now of all the world!

Flag of our fathers, true and tried,

The one for which they nobly died,

One with a high and holy aim

That covets no ignoble fame.

A flag that has a sacred trust,

Yet never sought a quarrel unjust.

That famous old red, white and blue,

Blood stained! yet clean the ages through.

Oh, sacred shrine of liberty!

Oh, glorious ensign of the Free!

All nations love to honor Thee,

Thou mighty bulwark of the Free!

Thy stars as Suns in glory shine,

O Flag of mine! O Flag of mine!

The fairest Banner in repose,

Since Erin's Sun first kissed the rose

And Menes' Flag o'er Memphis rose.

Since Byron wrote in rippling rhyme

And Milton breathed his song subline!

Since Pindar stayed the tyrant's hand,

And Virgil charmed his native land.

Since Sappho sang in song divine,

And Greece was drunk with Samian Wine

O Flag of mine! O Flag of mine!

The banner Flag since Time began,

The gift of God to mortal man!

~Emory W. Justus, Jefferson City, Missouri/USA