over the world.
I am saluted.
I am loved - I am  revered.
I am respected - and I am feared.

I have fought in every battle of every war for more then 200 years.

I was flown at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Shiloh and Appomattox.
I was there at San Juan Hill, and in the trenches of France,
in the Argonne Forest, Anzio, Rome and the beaches of  Normandy.
Guam, Okinawa, Korea and Khe San, Saigon, Vietnam know me.
I'm presently in the mountains of Afghanistan and the hot

and dusty deserts of Iraq and wherever freedom is needed.
I led my troops, I was dirty, battle worn and tired,
But my soldiers cheered me and I was proud.

I have been burned, torn and trampled on in

the streets of countries that I have helped set free.
It does not hurt for I am  invincible.
 

I have been  burned, torn, soiled upon

and trampled in the streets of my very own nation.
And when it's done by those Whom I've served in battle - it  hurts.
But I shall overcome - for I am strong and resilient.

I have slipped the  bonds of Earth

and stood watch over the uncharted frontiers of space

from my vantage point on the moon.

I have borne silent witness

to all of America's finest hours.
 But my finest hours are yet to come. 
When I am torn  into strips and used as bandages

for my wounded comrades on distant battlefields,
When I am flown at half-mast to honor my fallen soldiers,
Or when I  lie in the trembling arms of a grieving parent
at the grave of their fallen son or daughter,
I continue to stand proud.

 
Please forward my message to

all who still love and respect me

that I may fly proudly for our nation

for another two hundred years.