Russell J. Slavatore's Giant 30 x 60 Foot American Flag

Patriots & Heroes Park - Part 2

This giant American flag flies atop a 135 foot pole and was raised for the first time on August 2, 2011. Russell wanted others to know about Francis Bellamy, who in 1892 (from nearby Mount Morris, New York) wrote the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag

Francis Bellamy was a Baptist minister's son from upstate New York. Educated in public schools, he distinguished himself in oratory at the University of Rochester before following his father to the pulpit, preaching at churches in New York and Boston.

The 37-year-old Bellamy set to work arranging a patriotic program for schools around the country to coincide with opening ceremonies for the Columbian Exposition in October 1892, the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World. Bellamy successfully lobbied Congress for a resolution endorsing the school ceremony, and he helped convince President Benjamin Harrison to issue a proclamation declaring a Columbus Day holiday.

A key element of the commemorative program was to be a new salute to the flag for schoolchildren to recite in unison. But as the deadline for writing the salute approached, it remained undone. "You write it," Bellamy recalled his boss saying. "You have a knack at words."

In Bellamy's later accounts of the sultry August evening he composed the pledge, he said that he believed all along it should invoke allegiance. The idea was in part a response to the Civil War, a crisis of loyalty still fresh in the national memory. As Bellamy sat down at his desk, the opening words—"I pledge allegiance to my flag"—tumbled onto paper. Then, after two hours of "arduous mental labor," as he described it, he produced a succinct and rhythmic tribute very close to the one we know today: I pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it stands—one Nation indivisible—with liberty and justice for all. (Bellamy later added the "to" before "the Republic" for better cadence.) Credit Smithsonian Magazine

The Best Photos I Took of This Beautifully Flapping Magestic Flag

Please comment which picture you like most and why. I'm hoping this makes a few veterans smile and those who are thankful for the freedoms we do have in America, even with the craziness coming come election time. We are blessed and while I do believe there is a lot of corruption in government, the original intent, to the best of my knowledge was pure. I believe our flag should be a symbol of pride and I hope it will continue to remain so.