** Proprietary **

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From:  <maureenc@swproperties.com>
To: deannathaut@aol.com
CC: tnmol6@aol.com, ceil66@aol.com, pennyw@swproperties.com, davidw@swproperties.com, Kaaleman@aol.com, Maureen DeFilippo <MaureenDeFilippo@email.msn.com>
Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 3:49:53 GMT
Subject: 


----- Original Message -----
From: Mary Kingston <MKingston@ci.glendale.az.us>
To: <Wendykillius@aol.com>; Connie Sodaro <CSodaro@ci.glendale.az.us>;
Beverly Hardy <HARDY@ci.glendale.az.us>; Julie Garcia
<JGarcia@ci.glendale.az.us>; Martina Castaneda
<MCastaneda@ci.glendale.az.us>; Tina Zubia <TZubia@ci.glendale.az.us>;
<maureenc@swproperties.com>
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 2:08 PM
Subject: John McCain's Speech


From a speech made by Capt. John S. McCain, US, (Ret) who represents
>Arizona in
>the U.S. Senate:
>
>As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war
>during the
>Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in
>solitary
>confinement or two or three to a cell.
>
>In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large
>rooms with
>as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.
>
>This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct
>result of the
>efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000
>miles from
>home.
>
>One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike
>Christian.
>Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair
>of shoes
>until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later
>earned a
>commission by going to Officer Training School. Then he became a Naval
>Flight
>Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967.
>
>Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this
>country-and our
>military-provide for people who want to work and want to succeed. As
>part of the
>change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive
>packages
>from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and
>other items
>of clothing. Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple
>of months,
>he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.
>
>Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's
>shirt on the
>wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I know the Pledge of
>Allegiance
>may not seem the most important part of our day but, now I can assure you
>that in
>that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.
>
>One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and
>discovered
>Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it. That evening
>they returned,
>opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all us, beat Mike
>Christian severely
>for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and
>threw him
>in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.
>
>The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we
>slept. Four
>naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As said, we tried to
>clean up
>Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in
>the corner of
>the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of
>red cloth,
>another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He
>was sitting
>there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making
>another
>American flag.
>
>He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better.
>He was
>making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able
>to pledge
>allegiance to our flag and our country
>
>So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget
>the
>sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our
>nation
>and promote freedom around the world. You must remember our duty, our
>honor,
>and our country.
>
> "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and
>to
>the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,
>with
>liberty and justice for all."
>
> PASS THIS ON... and on... and on!!!!!!
>
> HOW MANY CAN YOU SEND IT TO?
>
>

  _____

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