"It Is the Soldier"

In anticipation of Thank a Soldier Week, I'm reprinting the awesome, straight-to-the-heart patriotic poem, "It Is the Soldier", by American soldier Charles Michael Province. Afterwards comes a brilliant quote by Ulysses S. Grant on the true nature of "peace activists". Though he spoke his words over a hundred years ago, their meaning for today is crystal clear.

"It Is the Soldier"

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag
Who serves beneath the flag
And whose coffin is draped by the flag
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

by Charles Michael Province, US Army


"Experience proves that the man who obstructs a war in which his nation is engaged, no matter whether right or wrong, occupies no enviable place in life or history. Better for him, individually, to advocate 'war, pestilence, and famine,' than to act as an obstructionist to a war already begun. The history of the defeated rebel will be honorable hereafter, compared with that of the Northern man who aided him by conspiring against his government while protected by it. The most favorable posthumous history the stay-at-home traitor can hope for is--oblivion."

Ulysses S. Grant, on Northern anti-war activists during the Civil War