James "Jimmy" Dennis Kelley |
USS Arizona |
We assume my uncle, James (Jimmy) Dennis Kelley, wrote this essay during his senior year in high school. He graduated in May of 1939 from Bowlegs High School in Bowlegs, Oklahoma. I am so very proud of having an uncle who was so deep feeling about our country and it was ironic for him to have lost his live 2 1/2 years later. I know there were lots of young men who entered the service feeling the same way especially after Pearl Harbor. I have talked with several whose comment was "that is exactly hoall felt!" Janay Due (Niece of James Kelley) AMERICA----THE LAND OF THE FREE At a crucial moment in the history of the world, such as the one we are now passing thru, every red-blooded citizen of these United States should bow on a willing knee, bare on humble head and from a thankful heart give praise and thanks to his makers; thanks for the pure freedom which is his heritage; thanks that his existence is in a land that is free from the iron fist of the dictators; thanks for the blessings of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. To put it in brief, we should be extremely grateful for Liberty. There is no true citizen in America today, but who would drain the last precious drop of his life-flood to keep the red in the stars and stripes; there is no pure woman in our midst but who would sacrifice her all, to keep the white, shining there; there are none here who would not, if necessity presented itself, fight like one possessed till death should cease their fighting, to keep intact, that tiny patch of blue; there are none but who would give away their homes, their lands, their everything to keep each star within it's own secluded spot. That is what America---the Free Means to you and me. It is ours by the gift of an Almighty God and to Him we should give thanks for such a gift. And yet in our beloved America today, there are powers which are by stealth spreading corruption slowly but surely toward the heart of this freedom that we love. Like giant sewers disgorging their loathsome contents on the placid waters of the river, they are belching forth their guts of filthy doctrines of Death, Hell and the Grave, then we should apprehend them, place them in a position so that they can do no more damage. That, my friends is the duty of every one of you as sons of America. But if you give your sanction to these movements as did a group of students in one of our Oklahoma schools not long ago, it is nothing but right that you should know the perils you are to face. If you lived in a country ruled by a dictator, where a curb was placed on your speech, your writings and even your very thoughts you would soon sadly realize your horrible plight. You would see men placed in shackles for thinking wrong, you would see women and children slaughtered because of their racial creed you would be forced to eat, drink and sleep allegiance to that horrible creed. You would be forced to pick your friends from those who were faithful only to that creed. You would be forced to drop your individuality, footsteps of the leader even as a herd of beasts. Your correspondence would be apprehended and searched for even thoughts against that creed. Would you relish being a party to the following examples? There were two very close and very dear friends; one moved to Nazi Germany for business purposes. The two carried on a friendly correspondence. The one in Germany spoke, perhaps a little free in his ideas of German's persecution of the Jews in his letters. One day one of the letters of the friends in American was returned stamped in glaring block letters, ADDRESSANT UNBEKANT which means in German, address unknown. The letters of the two friends had been read and the man in Germany was located by the Military Police and put to deathperhaps a horrible deathwho knows. These are a few of the indignities that the loyal followers in some foreign lands suffer. These are the pretty ideas of salvation they are now offering to us. Are we to accept them? Or are we to grind them beneath our heels to dust as they should be? It is our place to stop the propaganda that is spreading in our land like the slimy tentacles of some giant monster of the sub-terrarium depths of Hell. This we should so, so that we may never have a letter to a dear friend returned to us, stamped ADDRESSANT UNBEKANT. By James Dennis Kelley Bowlegs High School Bowlegs, Oklahoma |
