Cpl. Joe Barna, 94, of Freeland, a Purple Heart recipient who fought in the Korea War, took time on Thursday to talk about Flag Day as he visited St. Ann’s RC Cemetery in Freeland. Frank Balon Photo WILKES-BARRE — As George M. Cohan’s song goes, “it’s a grand old flag,” and today is the day we celebrate it.
Flag Day, June 14, here in the good old USA, is the day we honor our national flag. The holiday commemorates the date in 1777 when the United States approved the design.
Cpl. Joe Barna, 94 of Freeland, the Purple Heart recipient who fought in the Korean War, took time on Thursday to talk about Flag Day as he visited St. Ann’s RC Cemetery in Freeland.
“I consider Flag Day a sister to Memorial Day,” Barna said. “Think of it as the mother-day of all those flags that were placed over all our veterans — veterans who now sleep in the cemeteries all over America and many foreign countries.”
Barna, an award-winning writer, puts things in perfect perspective when the topic is patriotism and veterans.
“How many Americans really know the pride, honor, love, courage, duty and sacrifice for which our flag stands?” Barna asked. “Every veteran who fought and died for our country, feels this pride and will die with it. After their final moments of life, an American flag will be draped over their coffin.”
Barna said if you walk among the many flags in almost any cemetery, don’t only look at each flag.
“Try to feel the pain that that boy — who never became a man — felt when the bullet struck his body or the pieces of shrapnel tore into him,” Barna said. “Share his pain.”
As a Marine, Barna said he stood by a statue in Washington D.C. of five Marines and a Navy Corpsmen who raised an American flag on the island of Iwo Jima.
“That flag was flown high in every battle American troops have fought in,” Barna said. “The flag gave the fighting men courage.”
Barna said when he served in Korea, on every mountain where “our boys” were fighting and dying, there was an American flag. Many had bullet holes or tears from battles, but were never taken down.
“So many thousands of our boys gave their parents a final present — a folded American flag,” Barna said. “It came with tears, but no more pain.”
Barna said he has spoken about the flag-raising at Iwo Jima.
“The cost of that flag was more than 6,000 Marines who died on that small island,” Barna said. “Many more thousands of Americans would die on other islands in the Pacific Theater.”
After Iwo Jima was taken, Barna said the surviving Marines began to leave the island and go on to more battles where our flag would give them strength. He said as they were leaving, they walked past a cemetery where dozens of simple crosses rose from the ground.
“On one cross there was a helmet, a dog tag and a piece of cardboard ripped from a c-ration box,” Barna said. “On the paper was printed the words — ‘We gave you all of your tomorrows by what we did today.’”
Barna added, “Americans don’t fight to get rich. They don’t fight for glory. They fight and die for the love of a brother and our American flag.”
And Barna repeated a message he has often given: “Again I say, ‘It’s who we are, what we did, and how much we loved each other.’”
Barna said the American flag should always be flown high and proud.
“It should never be hung upside down,” Barna said. “Every American who has fought in a war knows why.”
About Flag Day
• Flag Day commemorates June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress determined the composition of the nation’s banner.
“Resolved, That the flag of the 13 United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
• President Woodrow Wilson issued a 1916 proclamation of June 14 as Flag Day and in 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed the formal observance into law. And it falls during Flag Week, after another congressional dictum in 1966.
• The earliest mention of Flag Day involves a man named George Morris who organized such a commemoration on June 14, 1861, in Hartford, Connecticut, marked by a patriotic program and prayers for Union Army success in a young Civil War. But apparently, the festivities were never repeated.
• Pennsylvanians will challenge Cigrand’s coronation as “Father of Flag Day.” Pittsburgh native William T. Kerr began his advocacy in 1888 and a year later became national chairman of the American Flag Day Foundation, holding that position for a half a century. Kerr was among those standing beside Truman when he signed the Flag Day law.
— Associated Press
“You’re a Grand Old Flag” chorus
You’re a grand old flag
You’re a high-flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave
•
You’re the emblem of
The land I love
The home of the free and the brave
•
Ev’ry heart beats true
Under red, white and blue
Where there’s never a boast or brag
•
But should old acquaintance be forgot
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.
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