and the
Elizabethton Star present
HONOR, GLORY & PRIDE Friday, July 3, 2015
2D - STAR - FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015
HONOR, GLORY & PRIDE
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HONOR, GLORY & PRIDE
FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015 - STAR - 3D
OPERATION DESERT STORM
Veteran remembers oil storms, butter bowls in Mideast BY ABBY MORRIS-FRYE STAR STAFF abby.frye@elizabethton.com
Out in the sand and the heat, Larry Bowling made a lot of good memories with a lot of good friends while serving overseas during the Desert Storm war. The 74-year-old Bowling still smiles and laughs as he recalls his service with the 776th Maintenance Company of the Tennessee Army National Guard during the Gulf War. “I enjoyed that time very much,” he said. “That was the most enjoyable time, getting to work with that good bunch of young men and women.” Bowling was one of about 350 soldiers in the Maintenance Company to deploy to the Middle East in the early 1990s. The company was tasked with maintaining and repairing military equipment and vehicles. “Mostly what I did was work on generators and trucks,” Bowling said. “I got to work on tanks, which is something I had never done before. I even got to drive one, and that was fun.” One of the things about the desert Bowling vividly recalls were the oil storms. “About every three days, we’d have an oil storm,” he said. “It would be so black you couldn’t see. The oil would be all over the windshields.” “It would stay maybe a day or two,” he added. “You couldn’t see nothing; it was as black as midnight.” The 776th’s camp was in Saudi Arabia on the edge of the desert. The road running into the desert and to the front lines of battle ran right past the camp, Bowling said. “Everyone stayed pretty close together,” he said. “They didn’t want us wandering off too far.” Life in the camp wasn’t bad, Bowling said. “We lived in tents,” he said, adding that a group got together after a little while and built wooden floors for the tents. The soldiers in the company could call home from time to time and, thanks to some care packages from their families, they were able to have a few of the luxuries of home. Bowling and some of his fellow soldiers often received packages with snacks, beef jerky and sodas from their families, so much so that they built a shelf that ran the length of their tent to store everything. “It looked like a grocery store in there when we got done,” he said with a laugh. The guys would all put their food on the shelf and share it with the others. But one of the items Bowling re-
Contributed Photos
Larry Bowling, far left, is shown here with a group of fellow soldiers at their camp in the desert of Saudi Arabia.
members best from the care packages is something rather unexpected — empty butter bowls. “Every night, me and Jody Crowe and Danny Hawks and Walt Pierce would get us one of those big butter bowls and get our popcorn and go over to the tent where they showed movies,” he said. Now, some of the guys didn’t have anything to hold their popcorn in, so Bowling said he and some of the other guys asked their wives for help. “They sent over some more empty butter bowls so the guys would have something to hold their popcorn,” he said. While Bowling has a lot of fond memories of his time in the desert, it was not his first overseas military deployment. At the age of 22, Bowling was drafted into the Army. After his training at Fort Jackson, S.C. he was sent straight to Korea, where he and two other members of his communications unit worked on the communications lines across that country. The remainder of his unit was deployed to Vietnam to fight in that war. After just over two-and-a-half years in the Army, Bowling left active duty service and later joined up with the National Guard. In total, Bowling had 38 years of military service when he retired from the Army. After returning from Korea, Bowling went back to school to become a teacher. He spent 28 years working as a teacher
Like the characters in the popular television show M.A.S.H., members of the 776th Maintenance Company erected a sign in their camp showing which way to home and how many miles away it was.
and athletic coach in the Carter County school system before retiring from that job as well. “I’ve had a good life,” he said. “I lost my wife two years ago but I’ve got a good son and a good daughter.” And even now, more than two decades later, he still recalls with fondness his time spent with his fellow soldiers out in the desert. “Sometimes I’ll sit around and think about all the good times we had together,” he added. “I couldn’t believe how enjoyable it was.”
Above, while there is no place like home for the holidays, when a soldier is on deployment they have to make the best of what they have. Larry Bowling is shown here with some of the Christmas decorations the 776th Maintenance Company put up in their desert camp. And left, during his 38 years of military service, one of the places Larry Bowling was sent was to Germany, where he had the chance to visit the site of the famed Berlin Wall.
KOREAN WAR
Batchelder recalls atomic blast Army veteran witnessed explosion in the Nevada desert in 1953 BY LYNN RICHARDSON PUBLISHER
lynn.richardson@elizabethton.com
In 1953, eight years after atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, the world was aware that the United States was in control of a devastating weapon. Japan was far from home, however, ºand few Americans could fully comprehend the monstrous power of such an explosion. But one local man, Sgt. Major, U.S. Army, (Ret.) Dean L. Batchelder Sr. of Elizabethton understood, because he is one of a very few who saw, first-hand, an atomic bomb’s power unleashed in the Mohave Desert. At 85, many things have faded from his memory, he says. But that experience is etched indelibly in his mind. “This was the most awesome, most destructive thing that I’ve ever seen, and yet it is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed,” Batchelder said. “My ability to express myself as a human being doesn’t allow me the words to describe what I saw.” Batchelder grew up in Menomonee, Wis. He signed on with the U.S. Army in 1948 at a rate of pay
of $75 a month. When he returned from Korea in 1951 as a 23-year-old Sgt. First Class, he became the C.B.R. (Chemical, Biological and Radiologist) officer for his company. It was in that capacity that he, along with about 500 other soldiers, was sent to Desert Rock, Nev. The purpose of the trip, he later learned, centered on the military’s test of an airburst of an atomic bomb. “Looking on the map now, I can’t find such a place, but I remember the name well,” Batchelder said. He remembers a military bus taking them into Las Vegas, about a 11⁄2hour bus ride from Desert Rock. Housed in a camp of 10- and 20man tents — a “city of tents” — in the Mohave Desert, they were there a week. “At night, they would take several busloads of us into Las Vegas for rest and relaxation,” Batchelder said. “(They were) treating their ‘guinea pigs’ good.” “Besides testing the effects on human beings, they also wanted to test buildings, animals, and military equipment,” Batchelder said. “They had a small village of houses built
Dean Batchelder Sr.
and different types of structures — wood and brick and steel — built near Ground Zero, a dry lake bed and the direct point where they dropped the bomb.” Once in the desert, the soldiers were put in trenches about a mile from Ground Zero, Batchelder said. He described the terrain as a gradual slope up from the dry lake bed. “It was like we had a grandstand view,” he said. “Then they dropped the bomb,” he said. “They counted down the last few seconds and told us beforehand to keep down in the trench and close our eyes. They told us if we looked at the blast, it would be so bright it would blind us.” “Over a loudspeaker, we could
hear them counting down ‘10, 9, 8, ...’ and when that the bomb went off, we were kneeling with our eyes closed. The light was so bright you could see the light through your eyelids even with your eyes closed.” After the explosion, Batchelder said the soldiers were instructed to stand up and look. “When we did, we could see a huge round fireball,” he said. “The fireball looked just like something that was turning orange and red and it was round and continually burning, changing colors, suspended in air right in front of us. n See BATCHELDER, 5D
Sincere thanks to all of our courageous armed forces for their brave contributions.
Estill Miller, D.D.S.
1213 West G Street, Elizabethton, TN
(423) 543-2755
Thank you, veterans and men and women of the military. Because you served, we are free.
Elizabethton Star
HONOR, GLORY & PRIDE
FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015 - STAR - 5D
IRAQ WAR & BOX DAY TSUNAMI OF 2004
Carter County brothers volunteer for duty
Nathan Keiser helped victims of ’04 tsunami BY BRYCE PHILLIPS STAR STAFF bryce.phillips@elizabethton.com
To many, the thought of military brings up ideas of war and destruction, but that is not always the case. Nathan Keiser grew up in North Star, Ohio, where he lived on his grandfather’s farm. In 2004, Keiser, like his grandfather, who served in the Navy during World War II, joined the military — the Marines to be exact. “I just wanted to get out of the hometown and go see the world,” Keiser said. Keiser did all of his military training stateside before being deployed overseas. His first job overseas, however, was not in a war zone. Keiser was stationed at Okinawa, when on Dec. 26, 2004, a large earthquake erupted in the Indian Ocean, sending out a shock wave that resulted in the Box Day Tsunami and killing 230,000 people in 14 countries. One of those countries was Thailand, where an estimated 8,212 people were killed, and many more displaced from their homes. Shortly after the Box Day disaster, Keiser was deployed to Thailand, where helped provide support for those affected. “We were in an area that was
unaffected, so it wasn’t like we were in the water,” Keiser said. “It was nice being able to help, and provide humanitarian aid.” Keiser and his group helped provide communication for those affected by the tsunami, he said. “We provided communication from where the water was at and the people that needed help back to the United States or whereever people need to communicate to,” Keiser, who worked as a military electrician said. “We would run 24-hour shifts. I provided electrical service for all of the COMM equipment.” After his time in Thailand, Keiser ended up in Korea, where he completed some training before being deployed to Iraq, where he provided electrical services. There he set generators that maintained electrical power to all of the electrical equipment being used by the troops. As an electrician, Keiser was moved around a lot due to the low supply of electricians. “We went to about every base in the West,” Keiser said. “They did about everything they could do to get us there, because electricians were a commodity. So we flew in every helo and rode in every tank that we could. It was an n See NATHAN KEISER, 7D
Star Photo/Bryce Phillips
Veteran Kyle Keiser, who served eight years in the Army, moved to Carter County area last year. At the veterans memorial in downtown Elizabethton, Keiser holds up a flag he received during his time in the military.
Kyle Keiser cleared IEDs during Iraq War BY BRYCE PHILLIPS STAR STAFF bryce.phillips@elizabethton.com
Star Photo/Bryce Phillips
Nathan Keiser, who served four years with the Marines, stands near the Carter County Veterans Memorial in Elizabethton.
During Kyle Keiser’s time in the Army, he learned many things, but one of the most important was not to sweat the small stuff. Keiser, who grew up on a hog farm in North Star, Ohio, joined the military straight out of high school in 2005, and it was by happenstance that he joined the Army. At first, Keiser intended to join the Navy just like his grandfather, who served in World War II, but when he went to sign up for the Navy, the recruiter was out. “The only office open was the Army, so I went down and talked to him,” Keiser said. “I walked in and told them that I wanted blow stuff up and jump out of planes.” Not long after that, Keiser found himself in basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, where he spent 22 weeks before going to Fort Benning, Ga., for airborne school. Another chance happening caused Keiser’s military career to take another turn. “I did my first jump and shattered my ankle, so they sent me on to my next duty station,” Keiser said.
His next stop was at Fort Hood, Texas, where he stayed from March 2006 to February 2008. While at Fort Hood, Keiser was deployed to Iraq for two years. With jumping out of planes not an option anymore, Keiser did get the chance to blow stuff up or keep stuff from blowing up. As a combat engineer, he was given the job of route clearance, which entailed sweeping for and disposing of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which were some of the deadliest of weapons used during the invasion of Iraq. According to a Washington Post report, IEDs killed 2,550 U.S. service members during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. “You never knew what was going to happen,” Keiser said. In 2009, Keiser’s group cleared more than 5,000 IEDs in nine months. And clearing out the IEDs took a lot of dangerous and hard work. “We would go down the road and look for anything suspicious,” Keiser said. “If we found something, we would send someone or a robot up, and check it out. We would interrogate it, and if it was an IED we would blow it up. We cleared a lot.”
All told, Keiser served eight years in the Army, and he takes a lot of pride in having served. “If I could go back eight years, I would do it again,” he said. “When I graduated high school, only three out of a hundred kids joined. To me it is only a small elite group that does stand up and say, ‘Hey, I’m not going to take what is happening around the world, I’m going to go do something about it.’ ” Making up that elite group with Keiser is his brother Nathan Keiser, who joined the Marines in 2003 and served for four years. With the traditional rivalry between the branches of the U.S. military, the two brothers enjoy giving each other a hard time, Kyle Keiser said. “It’s neat being brothers and having our own little rivalry,” Kyle Keiser said. “He always has his daughter say, ‘hoorah’ when I am around. You know, we like to kid each other.” After his years in the military, Keiser said what he took from serving overseas was simple. “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” he said. “At the same time, you don’t take the small stuff for granted, you know, things like running water, a hot shower. So, don’t sweat the small stuff, and at the same time cherish the small stuff.”
Batchelder n Continued from 3D
in front of us. It kept growing, getting larger and larger, boiling and changing, going higher and higher. “Then we looked below it,” he said. “You could see the blast hit the ground. The dust cloud lifted off the ground like a blanket covering the entire blast area.” He estimates the height of the airburst, as it appeared from his vantage point, to be about 2,000 feet. “Then all of a sudden the cloud turned into a funnel,” Batchelder said. “All the dust and debris from the explosion force was sucked up into the center and then into the funnel up toward the fireball, which continued to rise and grow.” “In an explosion, there is concussion outward, the noise, the burning of oxygen, and then
movement back toward the center,” Batchelder explained. “You don’t see all of this in a regular explosion. But, with an atomic bomb, each stage happens separately and you are able to witness each one.” The cloud got larger and larger and seemed to go above the fireball. Eventually the colors in the fireball disappeared and it turned into a huge cloud, and Batchelder remembers seeing a rolling blast wave coming toward them after the bomb exploded, picking up sand and weeds and other debris. “They told us to lean against the rear of the trench,” he said. “Those who didn’t do as they were told got knocked against the wall, and this was a mile away. “After we witnessed all of this, we got out of the trenches and
they called an ‘assault’ for us to move forward down to Ground Zero,” Batchelder said. At that time, the only protective equipment they were provided were World War II-vintage gas masks with attached eye protection to filter out any debris or dust, Batchelder said. He doesn’t remember wearing any ear protection but does recall that all of the men were dressed in regular military fatigues. The destruction at the point of explosion was incredible. “Military trucks that had canvassed tips with braces — that was all gone,” he said. “All the glass from windshields was gone. Anything plastic was gone. Metal remained but it was charred. The sand, up to a quarter of a mile in each direction, was almost like
hard baked clay with little one inch squares, apparently caused from both the impact and the heat. It was vaporized. “It was the same thing with all the small structures,” he added. “All gone.” The testing also extended to animals that had been placed in foxholes. “They used sheep, and close to Ground Zero, the sheep were all dead,” Batchelder said. “Just a little further away from Ground Zero, their wool had been burned and charred. The sheep weren’t dead, but I’m sure they died later. “We were also ‘guinea pigs,’ in effect,” he said. “They didn’t really know what would happen to us, so we wore badges to measure ‘reontgens’ — the measure of radiation absorbed at that partic-
ular point. I think they were testing, ‘Is it safe?’ and ‘How much radiation are you going to get if you walk over an area where an atomic bomb has exploded?’ “At the time, I recall that there was only a small amount of radiation. But, this was not the first atomic bomb test and it was not the last.” “Twenty-five to 30 years later, the VA called us to check to see if any of us had any lasting effects. They didn’t find any in my case.” After the test, Batchelder said he was allowed to go back to his unit and describe the event. He taught classes on how to protect oneself from an atomic explosion, showing training films and giving eyewitness accounts of the event. “I can’t imagine what the
Japanese people went through and the hundreds of thousands of people who were killed,” Batchelder said. “But, at that time, it was necessary because it saved hundreds of thousands of young men from having to go into Japan and fight.” “I’ve seen storms at sea. I’ve ridden a typhoon out and seen one hit Okinawa that tore things up. But the destructive power of that bomb was just unbelievable,” he said. “There are many things in my life that I can’t recall at all,” he added. “But this made such an impression on me that I can still see it today. I can describe it in detail. It was quite a sight to behold. It was so destructive that I hope this world never sees another one.”
HONOR, GLORY & PRIDE
FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015 - STAR - 7D
Tribute to veterans
The Veterans Monument in downtown Elizabethton was erected in 1912. Contributed Photo/ Michael Klaus
Nathan Keiser n Continued from 5D
experience.” Keiser ended up spending four years in the Marines. Today, he lives in Carter County and works as a correctional officer in Mountain City. Looking back over his time in the military, Keiser said he realized how small the world really is.
“There are people that I met in Okinawa that I went to school with,” Keiser said. “Several people that I was stationed with in Okinawa, ended up running into in Iraq. It just showed me how small the world really is.” And when the Fourth of July, a
day that many celebrate the idea of freedom, rolls around, Keiser and his family will be out celebrating too. “We like to barbeque and fire up some sparklers for the kids,” he said. “We are lucky to have the freedom we do in this country.”
8D - STAR - FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015
HONOR, GLORY & PRIDE
WORLD WAR II
THANK YOU
to all those that have served or are currently serving in our Armed Forces, and to the families of those in the military (both past and present) for their support and sacrifices. 824 E. Elk Avenue • Elizabethton, TN 37643 (423) 542-1818
Star File Photo
Star File Photo
Harold Hubbard was drafted into the Army in February 1944 at Harold Hubbard, a World War II Army veteran, shows off his the age of 19. shadow box filled with medals from his time in the service.
Purple Heart, Bronze Stars and memories remain for Hubbard BY ABBY MORRIS-FRYE STAR STAFF abby.frye@elizabethton.com
Memories, medals and letters home are all that are left to mark a time in history that changed the life of a local veteran. Harold Hubbard served in the United States Army during World War II. Fighting on the Italian front, Hubbard was awarded a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars along with several other medals for his service to his country. Though lots of time has passed since his days in uniform, the memories remain strong for Hubbard — some of them good and others sad. Going through basic training was a bit of a culture shock for the Carter County native. Hubbard was drafted into the Army in February 1944 at the age of 19. He was a high school student at the time. Having a strict upbringing in a family with strong ties to their church, Hubbard said it was strange to arrive in basic training and be without his mother and father for guidance. He vividly recalls the day he stepped off the bus at Fort McClellan in Alabama. “When we got off the bus, the drill sergeant was standing there,” he said. “He was a heavyset fellow, very strong looking, very determined looking. “He talked to us and he said ‘I am your mother and I am your father. You will be the meanest, killingest soldier when you leave my unit. You will do what I say, when I say it.’ Those were his very words.” After completing his 13 weeks of basic training, Hubbard was taken to Camp Patrick Henry in Virginia to prepare for his deployment to the European front. “I never got to come home from basic training,” he said. “I wrote my mother a letter and said ‘you remember that man that said ‘give me liberty or give me death?’ Well, that’s where I’m at.’ “The censors cut every bit of that out,” he added. “She never knew where I was.” According to Hubbard, censors monitored all the mail soldiers sent home and removed any details which could give away their location.
Hubbard spent 31 days at sea as he crossed the North Atlantic — waters which were infested with German submarines and destroyer ships — on his way to Italy. He recalls landing in Naples, Italy where troops organized before moving toward the front lines. “The whole town was dark; there were no lights in Naples, Italy,” he said. “The German planes were still flying over and bombing it.” Once in Italy, Hubbard joined Company K of the 361st Infantry Regiment, 91st Infantry Division and prepared to move into Northern Italy and the Alps. Before they set out for the Alps, Hubbard said a chaplain met with the troops, and he recalled the words of comfort offered to him and his fellow soldiers. “He said to us ‘You are now going into combat. Some of you will live. Some of you will die. But none of you will ever become a coward. May God Bless you,’” Hubbard said. In the Alps, the troops in his unit patrolled mountain passes trying to locate German troops. One day on patrol, Hubbard’s squad went to clear out a pillbox — concrete dug-in guardposts — occupied by the Germans. “A German soldier came out of that pillbox with his gun over his head wanting to give up,” Hubbard recalled. “An SS Trooper came out from the other side and shot and killed him. He then had his pistol pointed at us and I shot him and killed him.” He said the German forces often sent SS Troopers to the front lines with regular units to prevent the soldiers from surrendering to Allied forces. SS Troopers — known in German as the Schutzstaffel — were special forces soldiers under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler and became the special protection force for Adolf Hitler. Clearing pillboxes was a large part of combat in the Alps as both sides fought for the mountain passes. Hubbard recalls one excursion he and a fellow soldier — whom he fondly refers to by the military nickname of “K.Y.” — went on. They located a pillbox with smoke rising from the chimney. “I crawled up on top of that pillbox and dropped two hand grenades down the smokestack and I got out of there,” he said. Following the explosion, Hubbard said K.Y. crawled up to
For all that you are and all that you’ve given to our country, we salute you, veterans. Thank you for protecting our freedom at home & overseas. Your service and your sacrifice will always be remembered.
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With gratitude, we honor America’s veterans and military personnel.
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the front of the pillbox and saw that all the German troops inside had been killed in the blast. “They was cooking kraut and knockwurst in there,” Hubbard added as he laughed. “We ate it all.” On the front lines, Hubbard said soldiers not only had to contend with enemy soldiers, but mines, mortar fire and steel artillery fire as well. One day on patrol, he said his squad encountered a field full of what the soldiers called “Bouncing Bettys,” which he described as anti-personnel mines that would pop up to about waist height and explode. While walking through the field, Hubbard said he stepped on one of the mines. “God was with me,” he said. “I stepped on a dud.” Troops patrolling in the Alps had to take special precautions for their safety, Hubbard added. “They took our dog tags from us,” he said. “They said if you had a ‘J’ on there, if you were a Jew, the Germans would kill you right there, but if you had a ‘P’ on there you might be taken back as a prisoner of war.” The military and life in combat changes a person, Hubbard said. “You become a different person in basic training. When you got into a situation where you could turn to no mother and no father, you became mean. You killed. You just thought to protect yourself.” However, not all of Hubbard’s memories are of combat and killing. He has fond memories of those he served with, his brothers in arms, and some of the funny situations he encountered during his service. However, even the fondest memories can lead to sadness as he recalls those who didn’t survive the war. Hubbard said he doesn’t like to talk about many of his experiences in the war because of the memories that flood back into his mind. “I have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder),” he said. “They used to call it shell shock.” Hubbard wrote many letters home to his mother, many of which were censored, and oftentimes the letters took months to reach their destination. “My mother kept every letter I wrote,” he said. “My son has them now. I’ve never read them and I don’t want to read them.”
We salute those who have served & those serving!
HONOR, GLORY & PRIDE
FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015 - STAR - 9D
This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis In Memory Of
Charles A. (Chuck) Bayne Navy • Served 4 Years
In Memory Of
Eddie Richard Miller
Edward Hendrickson Air Force (Retired) • Served 20 Years
Army • Served 2 Years
In Memory Of
Henry D. Potter Army • Served 2 Years
You enlisted, served your country with pride, honor and dedication. We are so proud of you. Your wife, sons and daughters
Thank you for your service to our great country. Love you. Dudie, Nickie & Eddie
Thank you for your service to our country. Love and miss you. Cathy and Cindy
Thank you for serving our country. Love & Miss you. Judy
LTC Steven L. Crowe
Larry Will Tipton
Elwood Cable
Charles E. Bowers
Army • Served 21 Years
B.D.S. - U. S. Navy , USS Coral Sea Ship • Served 4 Years
Thank you for your service. I am proud of you. I am blessed to have a son that is so special. I love you. Mama & Larry
Thank you for serving our country. I am blessed to have a wonderful man like you. I am proud of you. You are special to me. Love Wilma
Father of Marty Cable and Grandfather of Callie Cable. “Love You”
Gene Smith
Capt. Roy H. Wilson
Stanley Allen Bowers
For those who fought for it freedom has a taste the protected will never know. Vietnam 69-70-71
82 Airborne, 101st Airborne, 10th Special Forces & KIA Vietnam on 10-22-68. Miss You. Love You. Wife Loretta, Children: Tammy, Lisa & Stephen
Thank you for the love you had for your country that you so proudly served. The memories of your kindness & smiling face we will always remember. Wife, Brothers and Sisters
U. S. Army • Served 68-71
In Honor Of
Robert (Bob) Lee Ray U.S. Marines
Proud of you for serving our country, especially in foreign lands. We Love You, Family
U. S. Army • Served 16 years
In Memory Of
Wade C. Sluder, Sr. U.S. Army • World War I
In memory of a great Dad and an American Hero. Children, Patricia, Elizabeth, Wade & Families
Army • Served 2 1/2 Years
U.S. Army, 25th Division • 27th Infantry Wolf Hound Pearl Harbor
Thank you Daddy, we are so proud of you for serving our country. You are our Hero. May God Bless you. Love, Betty, Cora and Grandchildren
U. S. Army • Served 1967-69
Red is for Bravery; blood shed in sacrifice. Freedom came with lives the price. White is for Liberty; freedom’s purity. Life be free f om God’s decree. Blue is for Justice; as vast as the sky. Over freedom’s land to occupy.
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