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Honor for Whom Honor Is Due: The National Guard Pat Boone A very significant birthday came and went on Dec. 13, 2006. Sadly, too few Americans even noticed, or knew about it. The national media paid it scant, if any, attention. And the really sad part is that we all owe our lives, our history, and much of our present and our future to the ones whose birthday it was — our National Guard. The Guard's birth date was Dec. 13, 1636, when the first regiments of militia were organized from citizen volunteers in the towns surrounding Boston. Yep, that grand old organization celebrated its 370th birthday 12 days before Christmas. And were it not for the Guard, if we celebrated Christmas at all, it would most likely have been as the British do, because we would still be part of the British Empire. Or perhaps there would be some kind of independent nation on this soil, Southern Canada or Northern Mexico or some group of smaller nations. But there certainly would not be The United States of America. There would not be the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, because the men who created those documents would have died in an ill-fated, unsuccessful revolution against King George and British rule. Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy Five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The wonderful old poet did his best to preserve the memory of that midnight rider, and to pay him tribute. And for many years, all we school kids memorized those lines, so that we would remember "that famous day and year." And now, I wonder how many, if any, history teachers read that great poem and require their students to learn those lines?
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It is history, you know. Paul Revere was a successful silver and copper merchant in Boston, a close friend of Samuel Adams — and a leading participant in the notorious Boston Tea Party of 1773. That little soiree notified the British this little group of colonies would no longer suffer "taxation without representation," and it lit the fuse on the American Revolution. Paul Revere devised an alarm and messenger system that would play an essential role in the battles with the much larger and better trained and equipped British army.
On April 18, 1775, Revere mounted his horse and sped through the night from Charleston as the British soldiers were crossing the Charles River, warning the militias at Lexington and Concord, shouting as he galloped past farmhouses and through little villages, "The Redcoats are coming! The Redcoats are coming!" And the army—of citizens, tradesmen, and farmers, with arms designed for hunting, not battle —that assembled during that famous night not only surprised and turned back the Redcoats, but overnight became the nucleus of the Continental Army. The National Guard. Oh, it wasn't called by that name then; that came later. But from the earliest colonies on our soil, dating back a hundred years before the Midnight Ride, neighbors and friends and fellow colonists took up arms and duties to defend each other and their mutual interests.
When our forefathers met in the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, they empowered a new Congress to "provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia" — the Guard. Wisely realizing the possible dangers of a military state, they divided the responsibilities between the national and state governments. They left it to each state to appoint its own officers and training, so that the several states maintained some autonomy and could resist a national military junta, or dictatorship, if such should ever be contemplated. And today, the National Guard still remains a dual State-Federal force. And, as we saw in each of our more recent natural disasters and concerns, the National Guard has always been first on the scene — whether to quell riots and prevent disturbances, to aid flood victims, or to patrol our borders — always and ever trained and ready to help fellow citizens and promote the general welfare. And though too few know it, in each of our wars the Guard has been called into action immediately, because it is made up of trained, disciplined, and patriotic volunteer citizen soldiers, ready to go and fight when called on. After Pearl Harbor, over 40 percent of our fighting men were National Guard, carrying our banner into our defense, while hundreds of thousands of other men and women had to be trained and equipped. But the Guard was ready — and it responded. Today, while a newly configured Congress debates how to prosecute or end the war in Iraq, thousands of our finest and most dedicated young men and women, who all volunteered to wear the uniform and bear the responsibilities of our hallowed National Guard, are fighting and dying in a struggle there whose purposes and results are still in question. For most of them, though, the purposes have been clear: when asked, they answer something like "We're here confronting a sworn, deadly, fanatic enemy in his own part of the world, instead of in the streets of Chicago or Atlanta or New York. We're declaring to the world that no one can sneak into America, blow up buildings and kill our people, and get away with it. We will come looking for you, and you will pay dearly for what you did!" And the Guardsmen (and women) I've talked with emphasize that "no one back home seems to hear about all the good things we're doing here — building and equipping schools, helping form and defend a new constitutional government, giving millions of rational people a hope for their own freedoms, and proving again that America is still the friend and defender of oppressed and liberty-seeking folks." Well, as so many of my fellow entertainers are ranting against our war effort, still proclaiming "but we still support our troops," I've felt a deep need to really support and pay tribute to them. I've written and sung and produced, with an outstanding young vocal group called Valor, a song "For My Country, The Ballad of the National Guard." Of course, a dramatic video had to be done, and beyond that a full documentary on the Guard itself, which amazingly seemed not to exist before. I consider it my heartfelt birthday gift to the countless young heroes who've defended our way of life, not because they've been drafted — but simply because they've loved America. I really hope many of my fellow citizens will want the modestly priced package — the DVD, music and documentary all in one — with proceeds going to Paralyzed Veterans of America. But I also hope that those who do get it will share it with many friends and neighbors, to educate and build real support for our best young people who are laying their lives on the line for them, for all of us. Millions of American families have deep ties to our Guard, and they all deserve our deepest gratitude. Mr. Revere, we honor you and your fellow patriots. Thank God for your courage and selfless commitment to America — and for the veterans and modern heroes of the National Guard who follow in your gallant footsteps. We'll not forget your midnight ride.
Editor's note:
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