River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1920-09-16

these flags, a flag which has never
known defeat.
Guard this flag with your lives"
The American Legion
Post Commander l.. S. Doolittle ac-
cepted the flag in behalf of Albert
Harvey Fletcher Post No. 121, The
American Legion, and replied as fol-
lows:
Speaking for the local Post of the
American Legion, wish to express
our sincere thanks for your gift. We
appreciate it and the spirit in which
it is offered. To us it seems not only
a gift but a symbol of something
which is actually happening.
"You, ladies, are affiliated with and
part of the Grand Army of the Re-
public. For more than fifty years
those splendid veterans of the Civil
War have stood guard at the ram
parts of American Civilization to pro-
tect and preserve those ideals of
justice, freedom and opportunity
which have made the flag respected IN
every corner of the globe.
"And now, as the ranks of these
glorious veterans grow thin and
broken, behold a new Grand Army,
fully equipped, with firm conviction
of duty to this flag, and with courage
to maintain those convictions, step
into these thinning ranks and take up
the march of progress.
$50 say that to us this occasion is
significant. 1t symbolizes the passing
of this flag and the privilege and
duty of maintaining it from the fail
ing hands of the Old Grand Army to
the strong, young hands of the new.
"Henceforth The American Legion
is charged with the heavy reponsibili-
ty of lifting it as high as you have
lifted it.
"May we, The American Legion,
then highly resolve, to protect and
preserve this flag and the ideals for
which it stands with such fidelity and
courage that we may be deemed
worthy to have received it from the
hands of our worthy predecessors"
For Co. "A"
Lieut.. C. A. Dawson, in accepting
the flag in behalf of Co. "A", said:
MADAM President, Ladies of the
Women's Relief Corps, Comrades of
the Grand Army of the Republic, and
of The American Legion: This occa-
sion is to me one frought with the
most wonderful significance and the
deepest of emotions The words
spoken here will be ineffacaDly re-
corded on the minds of those present,
the setting of the picture will be in
delibly photographed on their men,
cries. The time may come when the
memory of these events will spur men
on to one more supreme effort.
SIT devolves on me, Madam Presi-
dent, to accept from you and thank
you for this priceless gift priceless
not for its intrinsic worth but on ac-
count of what it betokens. Callous
indeed must be the man who can gaze
on its stars and stripes, as it floats in
the air, without emotion. What
multitude of thoughts come to us.
Comrades of the G.. A. R., we think of
the sacrifices you made that you
might keep the stars and stripes
still floating, the emblem of a united
nation. Your sun is well past the
meridian but the memory of your
deeds is fresh in our minds and will
live as long as history endures. Com
rades of The American Legion, you
willingly and uncomplainingly left all
that men hold dear, laid your all upon
the altar, ready if need be to make
the supreme sacrifice, that the old flag
should remain unsullied. Memory of
you and your deeds can never die.
And what you all have done would
) have been impossible had it not been
for the thoughts of mothers, wives
and sweethearts at home, whose
prayers were constantly with you. Of
YOU all will we think when we look at
this flag as it floats above our
| armory.
eve hope and pray that the occa-
sion for defending our flag by force
may never arise again, but should it
arise we promise you that you will
find us ready and willing to do our
utmost to keep it .unsullied.
eve accept the heritage as handed
down by you. We pledge ourselves to