Stoneham American Legion Post 115 petitioned Congress
Published on July 3rd, 2002
STONEHAM, MA - What controversy those last two words have caused during these last few days.
On Thursday, June 27, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled out of San Francisco that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional in that its inclusion of the word “under God” amounts to a governmental establishment of a religion. The ruling was made in conclusion of a suit brought forth by an atheist in California who had been upset that his daughter had been forced to listen to the Pledge of Allegiance when she was in school.
When Stoneham Post 115 of the American Legion first petitioned Congress approximately half a century ago to include the words “under God” in the pledge, little did its veterans know that their request would one day prompt a constitutional debate.
You can stop rubbing your eyes. You have read correctly. Stoneham was indeed the origin of the plea to insert those two words in the Pledge of Allegiance.
It all started in 1953, when veterans of Post 115 of the American Legion attended a state convention in Lowell and presented a bill that proposed that the two words be included. The bill was enthusiastically embraced, and, from there, it was carried by members to the Legion’s national convention.
Soon enough, the bill was championed by a congressman from Michigan, who ushered the proposal through the legislature. In no time, the bill appeared on the desk of President Dwight Eisenhower. He signed it, and, effective June 18, 1954, the words “under God” became etched into the Pledge of Allegiance.
See? From Stoneham to the White House to classrooms and ceremonies throughout the land.
So perhaps you can imagine how the veterans at Post 115 have been feeling these days. Just ask Past Commander Michael Flynn, who served as a jet engine mechanic in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War.
“I’m extremely unhappy about it,” says Flynn. “After all that we have been through since September, people shouldn’t mess with this. We’ve got a lot more problems in the world than having the words Under God‚ included in the Pledge of Allegiance.”
Flynn and a few fellow veterans have already done their part to ensure that those two words remain on the lips of those who would rise and salute the flag. During a summer concert at the Stoneham Town Hall last Thursday night, in which the band Vision played classics from the Fifties and Sixties, Flynn led the crowd through the Pledge of Allegiance. He was joined in his salute by Honor Guard members Ron Eagleston, Ray Poor and Lee Walker.
“We were very well taken by the audience,” says Flynn, who informed the crowd about Stoneham’s role in the historic addition to the pledge. “We were greeted with applause.”
If he was there, President George W. Bush would likely have been among those who cheered the Pledge of Allegiance. President Bush has called the court’s ruling “ridiculous.” Indeed, the decision has been greeted with such overwhelming ridicule from a vast majority of Americans and political leaders that the court has stayed its ruling until another hearing that will likely take place.
All the same, there are those who strongly feel that the court’s decision was correct, in that the inclusion of the words “Under God” does indeed signal an unconstitutional fusion between church and state.
“If you don’t want to say those words, then just don’t say them,” says Flynn, who mentions that he becomes upset when people do not stand during salutes or fold flags correctly. “Everything in this country has come from religion. In Stoneham, we had a part in what people say every day in this country.”
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