Pledge of Allegiance, flag to be honored at Memorial Day ceremony

The Pledge of Allegiance will take center stage at a Memorial Day program planned Monday at C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery in Kalispell.

The veteran program and flag dedication will begin at 12:30 p.m. at the United Veterans of Flathead Valley monument in the veterans section of the cemetery. There are more than 2,000 veterans buried in the cemetery, some in the designated veterans section and others elsewhere in the cemetery. The names of local veterans who gave their lives in combat are inscribed on the monument itself.

The flag being retired this year was flown in memory of Maj. Gen. Neil Van Sickle.

"On that day and in every former flag ceremony we have also dedicated the new flag 'to honor all veterans who have served to protect and preserve the freedom of all who stand here today,'" said cemetery sexton James Korn.

This year veterans specifically will honor the flag and its significance through the Pledge of Allegiance, the oath and salute to the flag that has been recited by countless Americans in schools and public gatherings for 129 years.

The original pledge was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Christian socialist and former Baptist minister, according to history.com.

Bellamy was working for the "Youth's Companion" magazine and was tasked with penning a pledge to recite at patriotic celebrations in conjunction with the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in America. The original oath stated: "I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Daily recitation of the pledge became a staple in public schools starting in the late 1800s. Through the years the pledge was revised a couple times to what it is today.

In 1923 the National Flag Conference revised the pledge to read "the flag of the United States of America."

Congress officially adopted the pledge in 1942 and "decreed that it should be recited while holding the right hand over the heart."

The final revision came in 1954 during the Cold War, when President Dwight Eisenhower urged Congress to pass legislation adding the words "under God."