Pause you who pass beneath this flag and remember
the sacrifice of life and of treasures
that has kept it aloft
unstained and beautiful against the sky
The 1981 movie Chariots of Fire notes the obligation of citizens to their nation's war dead. In doing so, it distinguishes duty and honor from nationalism and racism, and promotes service to mankind as an English virtue. This page commemorates Ohio's veterans through Ohio's memorials, the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, words and song from that movie, and the words of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Pause you who pass beneath this flag and remember
the sacrifice of life and of treasures
that has kept it aloft
unstained and beautiful against the sky
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And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen? |
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And did the Countenance Divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among those dark Satanic mills? |
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Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me my arrows of desire! Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me my Chariots of Fire! |
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I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land. |
Note: Jerusalem can be adapted for singing in the United States
by substituting "ev'ry" for "England" in the last verse.
After fleeing from Kentucky to Ohio, Paul Laurence Dunbar's father
served in the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts regiment. In The Colored
Soldiers Dunbar expressed pride in their service as well as the
belief that their service had vindicated the "Sons of Ham:"
And their deeds shall find a record
In the registry of Fame;
For their blood has cleansed completely
Every blot of slavery's shame.
So all honor and all glory
To those noble sons of Ham-
The gallant colored soldiers
Who fought for Uncle Sam!
Every person in this nation is indebted to veterans who stood ready in
our nation's "hour of maximum danger," serving as peacekeepers in the
nuclear age. Not only are we free from the specter of nuclear
annihilation, but many technologies developed to defend the nation
(for example, semiconductors, computers and the internet) are in
widespread commercial use, fueling an economic superpower. Moreover,
many of our state's civilian employers trace not only their core
technologies to the military, but their corporate origins as well. It
is appropriate to honor the many people whose ingenuity, foresight,
and motivating ability spared this nation a "technological surprise."
I take the War list, and I run down it. Name after name, which I can not read, and which we who are older than you can not hear without emotion. Names which will only be names to you, the new college, but which to us summon up face after face full of honesty and goodness, zeal and vigor, and intellectual prowess. The flower of a generation--the glory of England. And they died for England and all that England stands for.
And now by tragic necessity their dreams have become yours. Let me exhort you: Examine yourselves. Let each of you discover where your true chance of greatness lies. For their sakes, for the sakes of your college and you country, seize this chance, rejoice in it, and let no power or persuasion deter you in your task.
