[PW] i am the american sailor

[Ella Hatfield]

 BLUEJACKET.COM

      I AM AN AMERICAN SAILOR
      Hear my voice, America!  Though I speak through the mist of 200 years, 
my shout for freedom will echo through liberty's halls for many centuries to 
come. Hear me speak, for my words are of truth and justice, and the rights 
of man. For those ideals I have spilled my blood upon the world's troubled 
waters. Listen well, for my time is eternal  -yours is but a moment. I am 
the spirit of heroes past and future.
      I am the American Sailor. I was born upon the icy shores at Plymouth, 
rocked upon the waves of the Atlantic, and nursed in the wilderness of 
Virginia. I cut my teeth on New England codfish, and I was clothed in 
southern cotton. I built muscle at the halyards of New Bedford whalers, and 
I gained my sea legs high atop mizzen of yankee clipper ships.
      Yes, I am the American Sailor, one of the greatest seamen the world 
has ever known. The sea is my home and my words are tempered by the sound of 
paddle wheels on the Mississippi and the song of  whales off Greenland's 
barren shore. My eyes have grown dim from the glare of sunshine on blue 
water, and my heart is full of star-strewn nights under the Southern Cross. 
My hands are raw from winter storms while sailing down round the Horn, and 
they are blistered from the heat of cannon broadside while defending our 
nation.  I am the American Sailor, and I have seen the sunset of a thousand 
distant, lonely lands.
       I am the American Sailor. It was I who stood tall beside John Paul 
Jones as he shouted, "I have not yet begun to fight!"  I fought upon the 
Lake Erie with Perry, and I rode with Stephen Decatur into Tripoli harbor to 
burn Philadelphia.  I met Guerriere aboard Constitution, and I was lashed to 
the mast with Admiral Farragut at Mobile Bay. I have heard the clang of 
Confederate shot against the sides of Monitor. I have suffered the cold with 
Peary at the North Pole, and I responded when Dewy said, "You may fire when 
ready Gridley," at Manila Bay.  It was I who transported supplies through 
submarine infested waters when our soldier's were called "over there."  I 
was there as Admiral Byrd crossed the South Pole.  It was I who went down 
with the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, who supported our troops at Inchon, and 
patrolled dark deadly waters of the Mekong Delta.
       I am the American Sailor and I wear many faces. I am a pilot soaring 
across God's blue canopy and I am a Seabee atop a dusty bulldozer in the 
South Pacific. I am a corpsman nursing the wounded in the jungle, and I am a 
torpedoman in the Nautilus deep beneath the North Pole. I am hard and I am 
strong. But it was my eyes that filled with tears when my brother went down 
with the Thresher, and it was my heart that rejoiced when Commander Shepherd 
rocketed into orbit above the earth. It was I who languished in a Viet Cong 
prison camp, and it was I who walked upon the moon. It was I who saved the 
Stark and the Samuel B. Roberts in the mine infested waters of the Persian 
Gulf.  It was I who pulled my brothers from the smoke filled compartments of 
the Bonefish and wept when my shipmates died on the Iowa and White Plains. 
When called again, I was there, on the tip of the spear for Operations 
Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
       I am the American Sailor.  I am woman, I am man, I am white and 
black, yellow, red and brown. I am Jew, Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist. I 
am Irish, Filipino, African, French, Chinese, and Indian.  And my standard 
is the outstretched hand of Liberty. Today, I serve around the world; on 
land, in air, on and under the sea. I serve proudly, at peace once again, 
but with the fervent prayer that I need not be called again. Tell your 
children of me. Tell them of my sacrifice, and how my spirit soars above 
their country. I have spread the mantle of my nation over the ocean, and I 
will guard her forever.  I am her heritage and yours.
      I am the American Sailor.
      MUCM J. Wallace, USN




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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Caldwell, Deborah L CIV NSWC PC" <deborah.caldwell at navy.mil>
To: "STUMPERS QUESTIONS" <list at project-wombat.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 2:29 PM
Subject: [PW] i am the american sailor


>
> Does anyone know where "I AM THE AMERICAN SAILOR" narrative
> originated ?
>
>
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>