America is the safest place in the world for a citizen to disrespect or even burn its national flag. While an American tourist, Otto Warmbier, is serving 15 years in North Korea for disrespecting their national flag, it has become fashionable in America to protest "oppression" by public displays of disrespect for our flag.

Among the other ironies of such public displays of ignorance is that the national anthem commemorates the defense of Fort McHenry. Among the few casualties to fall in the defense of that fort was Private William Williams, a black man who gave his life in the successful defense of the city of Baltimore. While most people, especially those bent on meaningless protests, don't know that, disrespecting our national anthem is, by extension, disrespecting the sacrifice of a black American soldier.

Perhaps now is a good time to review our national anthem in its entirety. For the older generation, this is review; for the younger generation, read on. You were probably never told what happened on that September night over 200 years ago.

The Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key who was an eyewitness to the British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry. It was near the end of the War of 1812 (which ended in 1815). Key had boarded the British warship, HMS Tonnant, to negotiate a prisoner exchange, and was briefly detained. Key remained aboard during the night of September 13-14, 1814, while Tonnant and other warships opened a night long bombardment of Fort McHenry, which guarded the city of Baltimore.

For 25 hours, the British naval squadron under the command of Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane poured out a continual fire on Fort McHenry from Chesapeake Bay. When the sun went down on the night of the 13th, the US flag, then displaying 15 stars and 15 stripes, was still visible. When the sun rose on the morning of the 14th, the flag was still flying. Fort McHenry had not fallen, and the British invasion force, depleted of its ammunition, had been turned back.

But let's look at how Key describes it in the four verses of the Star Spangled Banner…

O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

What we may miss is Key's mockery of the British invaders. Go ahead. Throw your rockets and exploding artillery shells in your effort to subdue Fort McHenry. For all the ordnance you've expended, you have only managed to illuminate our flag during the night, a testimony to your failed attempt to break the American defense.

Keep an eye on the last two lines of each verse. In the first verse they are phrased as a question, "…does that star-spangled banner yet wave…?"

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

It's the morning of September 14, 1814. The flag flies, the colors have not been struck, the fort has not surrendered. Yes, the flag still waves over the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

What's left of the invasion force led by British Major General Robert Ross? Their corpses. The flag in triumph waves over the defeated foe.

O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Key remembers the sacrifice of the soldiers who fought for our nation's freedom and is no less mindful of God's providential blessing in time of war and in time of peace. Key, who was a devout Christian, ends with a benediction and warning. May we continue to be blessed as a nation to the extent that we acknowledge the hand of the Almighty as a nation. If we do, then that flag will continue to wave for future generations.

The flag represents the sacrifices of those who have given their lives to secure our freedom of expression, even the right to protest against that very symbol. Be thankful that you are free, and safe, to express yourself offensively. But to those who have a mind to disrespect our flag, I would also encourage you to broaden your experience. Go to Cuba, or North Korea, or Saudi Arabia and show contempt for their flags or national anthems. Then, like Otto Warmbier, you'll get an understanding of what real oppression is like.

[OFF]

One of the radio stations around my area plays this at 12:00 noon every day.



And then there's Red Skelton's Pledge of Allegiance:

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Beautiful post! And what a pretty anthem, inspirational for freedom lovers across the globe.

Key also wrote one of the most moving hymns ever composed...

Lord, With Glowing Heart I'd Praise Thee

Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise Thee,
For the bliss Thy love bestows,
For the pardoning grace that saves me,
And the peace that from it flows:
Help, O God, my weak endeavor;
This dull soul to rapture raise:
Thou must light the flame, or never
Can my love be warmed to praise.

Praise, my soul, the God that sought thee,
Wretched wanderer, far astray;
Found thee lost, and kindly brought thee
From the paths of death away;
Praise, with love's devoutest feeling,
Him Who saw thy guilt-born fear,
And the light of hope revealing,
Bade the blood-stained cross appear.

Praise thy Savior God that drew thee
To that cross, new life to give,
Held a blood sealed pardon to thee,
Bade thee look to Him and live.
Praise the grace whose threats alarmed thee,
Roused thee from thy fatal ease;
Praise the grace whose promise warmed thee,
Praise the grace that whispered peace.

Lord, this bosom's ardent feeling
Vainly would my lips express.
Low before Thy footstool kneeling,
Deign Thy suppliant's prayer to bless:
Let Thy grace, my soul's chief treasure,
Love's pure flame within me raise;
And, since words can never measure,
Let my life show forth Thy praise.

Comrade Stierlitz wrote:[OFF]

One of the radio stations around my area plays this at 12:00 noon every day.

These are moving sentiments and very appropriate for the day, but as an historian, I was continually wincing at this long narrative. The historical mistakes are massive and numerous:

• It's "Fort McHenry," not "Fort Henry"
  
• FSK did not write the "song" The Star Spangled Banner. He wrote the poem. The tune is an old English drinking song To Anacreon in Heaven (ironically written by the same composer as "God Save the King," the British national anthem).
  
• The speaker seems to be mixing up his wars. He made several references to "colonies" and "colonists." The US had won it's independence from Britain some 35 years earlier. This was King George having seller's regrets and trying to recapture us.
  
• The poem does not reference "the bomb's red glare" illuminating the flag, it's "the rocket's red glare.
  
• Since you said this is played on the radio, I'm assuming that the video was created separately, but whoever did it made many similar mistakes in the graphics, mostly showing Revolution-era militiamen rather than US Army regulars of four decades later that would have been fighting at the Fort.

And not that it matters, but for the trivia value, the name of the rocket bombardment ship was HMS Erebus. It was built specifically to launch Congreve assault rockets. For this bombardment they probably used the large 300 lb rounds. The official designation of the Erebus was a "rocket ship" (really!).

Someone really needs to clean up that presentation. We have enough bad history circulating the web. The OP (Comrade-Komissar al-Blogunov) did a far more credible job.

- SK