"...and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..."
My great-grandfather, James, was in the Ohio infantry during the Civil War. My great uncle, Donald, died in Bologna, Italy in 1944. My father, George, served in 1961-1962 in the 3rd Armored Cavalry in West Berlin, Germany, guarding the autobahn. I have several other cousins and uncles who served. I'm sure all of us know someone who served.
Most people know the first verse of our national anthem:
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
But many have never heard the fourth, sung in more formal occasions:
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved 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!