Red, white and blue pride sparkles at patriotic rally

By JAMES CLARK / Editor for the Southern Standard

Emley Grandey, 5, and her brother Kyle, 3, enjoy waving an American flag during Sunday’s patriotic rally at Three Star Mall. It’s estimated a couple hundred people attended the rally called Support Our Troops – Support America. (James Clark photo)

Most of the fighting has ended and the war is essentially over. But the United States still plans to maintain a firm military presence in Iraq during post-war reconstruction and that means thousands of soldiers will remain in the Middle East.

It is for those soldiers, and every member of the armed services who has contributed to Operation Iraqi Freedom, that the Southern Standard and Three Star Mall co-sponsored a rally Sunday afternoon at the mall. The rally, called Support Our Troops – Support America, featured singing from the Hickory Creek choir and a keynote address from veteran John Biddle. Names of Warren County servicemen and women deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom were also read aloud.

The Hickory Creek choir, under the direction of Donna Campbell, was quick to grab the audience with two songs, “Children of the World” and “All of One Heart.” The choir, composed of fourth- and fifth-graders, then performed an armed forces medley of songs called “A Patriotic Salute.”

Biddle, a World War II veteran and former POW, then delivered a message on the importance of supporting our troops during war.

“There were 14 million of us in uniform for World War II and we never did have to question if the folks at home were behind us. We knew it at all times,” said Biddle. “I can’t tell you how important that was because when you don’t have people supporting you, then you don’t have morale.”

Biddle said some of the war protests he has heard recently don’t make sense to him.

“You have people saying we’re 100 percent behind our troops, but we’re against the war,” said Biddle. “What kind of message does that send? It’s saying we support you, but we don’t support what you’re doing. That’s meaningless to me.”

While the war is over for the most part, there is still plenty of tension in Iraq and in Baghdad. The U.S. Army announced this week it will deploy up to 4,000 additional military police and infantrymen in an attempt to curtail the looting and lawlessness in the country.