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 now, but 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
of 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 I 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 our allegiance to our flag and 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."