 The American Trail. American Trail. Blaze in blood. Defend it in blood. Chapter 13. The Brave Flag. The flag. A familiar sight, a familiar thing. You see everywhere. The most often you see it in your mind's eye. There it is, stretching softly in the wind on that ship bearing past the statue of Liberty. There it is, hanging limply from the flagpole of an army post in Kansas, deep-worn, almost in dead center of the Great Continent. There it is in that picture. Four marines and a stick of wood and a piece of cloth on the flash of color. And an insignificant place called Iwo Jima. There it is in your heart. That feeling that it's always been flying always will be flying. Some place, somewhere. The flag. The American flag. Will it? That history book over there, pick it up, boy. This one? That's it. Just a couple of pages farther back. See it? This one with the funny ship? Yes. It's one of those old engravings at the port of New York. But look at those flags, all those flags. Not one American flag. Do you notice that sun? Not an American flag in the place. No, it wasn't always there. It was in 1976, in New York. And when we meet in Philadelphia, gentlemen, we hope we can devise an instrument for the good of ourselves and all these... What are you going to do, Moses? Going to get out. But Jefferson's right. We can have independence from England. We can have our own country here. I'm not taking any chances. You'd better not. You see that man up there? Five pounds for your one next time we see him. Won't have much to say then, will he? No way it was. Some did, some didn't, but enough did. Well, that man they were talking about, he didn't hang after all, but he did almost die of cold and hunger at Valley Forge. And he saw his men die in pain at Trenton and Monmouth in Yorktown. Don't let those old pictures fool you. A bullet in the head hurt just as much then as it does now. And a lot of the men who died didn't even have a decent pair of shoes to die of. And that man they were talking about? I, George Washington, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully excuse you. Splash of color. Stick of wood. It could have been ripped down before it even got up there. It could have died a bornix. The American Republic was a fave in arms. The British Empire was the greatest naval and military power in the world. In 1812... Hey, too, we're boarding to get off English subject. Stand off! Are we fired? A few pages in the history book. But when it was over, the American flag could fly in freedom over the seven seas. It could have died a bornix. It could have been buried on plains or mountainsides or deserts as the pioneers moved westward. Because the land didn't give an inch, neither, son. The flag could have been ripped apart in 1816. Just keep on flipping through the book. War between states. The picture? A pup tent, a general. A president, a photographer. The American flag. The president stands on a battlefield. Get him. That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. And that's the government of the people. Yes, he died soon after that. Of course, they buried a big flag with him. From here. Look, the pictures are getting better now. See that old coal-burning cruiser? You can practically hear Admiral Dewey snarling for full speed. He's blasting fire all guns. And a flag. And this picture right up into modern times now. World War I. There was marching and cheering in the streets. And the spindly boys lined up for the draft and in front of the recruiting offices. And it was a wonderful time to be alive. And the ship ships were trapped in the gullows with excited youth wanting to get over there and don't take this world. They flew over little plots of ground where other flags were buried in the hearts of the countrymen. In France and Belgium in the cold floor of the North Atlantic. You can show the history book away now, son. Oh, but that isn't all. My father and my uncle George were in the... Sure, I know. The Second World War. Sure, that's happened. But the history is just being written now. The pictures will be better, of course. Excellent film, magnificent shots from all angles, theirs and ours. That's the thing about pictures. This one. This one. There's Hitler and there's the German war machine and there's the back of Europe already half broken. A desperate in the West, another desperate in the East and suddenly the great American continent seeming vulnerable at bay and now the pictures crowd one on top of another. A prime minister speaks. Winston Churchill. Not only the British Empire now, but the United States are fighting for life. Behind these great combatant communities are reigned all the spirit and hope of all the conquered countries in Europe. Yes, that was a nice picture. We weren't alone. Suddenly there were many nations fighting one fight, the one good fight, the toughest fight we ever had. No, I've had it. Over. The beautiful blue Pacific wait is below. And in another ocean, in another climate. I can't hang on any longer. Me neither. I swear that last plane saw us. Guess they didn't know. No, I guess they didn't. But did you notice one thing in those pictures you hardly ever saw an American boy fighting alone? Lots of other boys, lots of other uniforms, lots of other flags. And today they're still fighting together, fighting to preserve peace. Sure, the flag is up there. Partly because we're big and strong, but there's another bigger reason. Before you put a flag on a stick or even on a piece of cloth, it's got to be flying in the hearts of the countrymen. What of the flag? What of the hearts of the countrymen? Sibley, Iowa, population 2559. Mrs. McMurray's kitchen and the big green house, three blocks from the post office. No, we never had any boys in the service, girls, neither. Never had any children of any kind. It just reached me that ladle up there, darned the ladders busted again. Here you are. Thanks. Yes, sir. I guess you came to the wrong place. Well, I saw that big American flag outside the house, so I... Yes, we got that big flag out there, and lots of people think it's because we had boys in the service, but think so. Well, thanks very much anyway, Mrs. McMurray. I guess I'll be running along. Stay the lunch if you like. That smells wonderful, but no thanks. Would you mind telling me one thing, though? If you and Mr. McMurray haven't any children, why the deuce are you cooking about five gallons of beef stew for lunch? Won't be none of it left tomorrow. I'll tell you that. You see, Bob and me adopted four European children right at the end of the war. Started with one and one led to another. All kinds of ways to keep democracy alive, son. Don't forget that. That's why the flag's flying out front. Grindstone, Maine. Population 60. Temperature 17 degrees below zero. What of the flag? What of the hearts of the countrymen? Well, now ain't we fancy? A fella like you comes down from the city. Can't hardly tell what he's talking about. Get out the road, boy. Go to town council if you got such things up there, and speak your mind. If you see a good bill coming, well, I vote for it. See a bad one, vote against it. But don't just stand there. Go run for office or something. Step aside now, boy. If people work for the flag, the flag will take care of itself. Get up there now. Get up. Try if you want me to, but... I think all that anesthetic that they gave me hasn't worn off. That's all right, son. Well, to me, it's like that thing there in the New York Harbor. You mean the inscription on the Statue of Liberty that says, give me your tired, your poor? Yeah, that's it. You see, that means something personal to me. My grandfather came from Poland, and he memorized that. It was the first thing he learned when he learned to speak English. I guess the flag means something different to everybody. To me, it means that once this country stepped down and said, come on in. Join us for better or worse. Being a soldier in Korea means it's... for the worse right now, that's only part of the deal. But it's not the only part of the deal. Unquote. Don't forget to spell my name right. Hey, what's the rest of that? Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these the homeless tempest toss to me. I lift my lap beside the golden door. Sleep tight, soldier. Well, that's about it. Yeah, that's it. Quite a lot, huh? Yes, quite a lot. And I suppose the next thing you say is, where do we go from here? Yeah, I'd like to know. Nobody knows exactly where anybody's going from here, but we do know what happens to America now is up to us, all of us. Listen to these words from the President of the United States. The job of being an American is an unfinished job. In terms of what we plan and hope for and can achieve, America will always be an unfinished job. Most of all, it is the job of America's youth. More than any others, the young people of our country have the right to ask, where are we going? Because wherever we go, they will be there. Now, it has been my good fortune to spend all my life with young people. I think I sense of what is on their minds in these troubled days. They hope, of course, to build a stronger, better America as the cornerstone of a free world. A strong America, an America growing in spiritual and material strength, is a bulwark against war. But more than that, only a strong and free America, actively cooperating with the free world, can give substance to the hope of lasting peace. Our crusade sees for tomorrow an America filled with opportunity that passes far beyond the little limits of today. America's role will be a decisive role. My message to you, my message to the youth of our country, is that America is not through. America is unfinished business, the most important unfinished business in the whole world. President Eisenhower said that. Yes. Well, that's it. But here before you go, son, you're going to need plenty of help. Better take these with you. Declaration of Independence, Bunker Hill, Bill of Rights, The Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, The Constitution, The Enterprise, Bellow Wood, Anzio Normandy, Guadalcanal, Boulder Dam, The Mississippi, The Boney Shores of Maine, The Deep Gulf, The Blue Pacific, Taurus the Lake in Flatland, And a stick of wood, A piece of cloth, A splash of color. Good luck, son. This is the final chapter of the American Trail, brought to you by the ladies' auxiliary to the veterans of foreign wars.