“Patriotism means love of country (patria, in the Latin) and implies a readiness to sacrifice for it, to fight for it, perhaps even to give one’s life for it.” 1
– Walter Berns, American Enterprise Institute, professor emeritus at Georgetown University
“Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
– “The Star-Spangled Banner”
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
– “The Pledge of Allegiance”
“God bless America, land that I love.
Stand beside her and guide her,
Through the night with the light from above.”
– “God Bless America” by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was born Israel Baline on May 11, 1888, in Temun, Siberia. When he was very young, his Russian-Jewish parents fled to America to escape religious persecution. The young boy grew up with a deep appreciation for the freedom he and his family experienced in their new home, where their lives were no longer in danger simply because of what they believed, and there was equality of opportunity for a young man to succeed in life.
This young Russian immigrant went on to write music that defined what it meant to be an American patriot for much of the twentieth century. His tunes offered hope and inspiration during the bleak times of World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. His lyrics rejoiced in the blessings he had received through the American way of life. His songs—including “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade”—were celebrations of American traditions and culture.2
However, of all his works, “God Bless America” continues to have the strongest impact on the American psyche. While it had been a staple for a long time, this was never more evident than in the days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Despite the increasing secularization and division of American culture, “God Bless America” was sung in the halls of Congress, in sports stadiums, and other venues as a sort of alternative national anthem that expressed patriotic hope in the wake of tragedy.
In a 2014 interview, Berlin’s daughter, Mary Ellin Barrett, said, “I understood that that song was his ‘thank you’ to the country that had taken him in. It was the song of the immigrant boy who made good.” 3
Some have misconstrued “God Bless America” as a song that implies that God only blesses America and that our nation has a spiritual superiority over other nations. That was not the intention of Irving Berlin. He meant it as a way of saying thank you to a nation that had given him freedom and opportunity that cannot be found anywhere else on earth. Berlin was a patriot—someone who understood how special America was and how blessed he was to live there. Because he recognized how he had been blessed, he could not help but be thankful.
The statue of another, less well-known American patriot stands in Washington’s National Cathedral: Norman Prince, who was among the one hundred thousand Americans who lost their lives in World War I. In a city adorned with ornate statues and buildings, his statue is simple and singular. It stands in a quiet corner of the cathedral as a silent witness to the patriotism and self-sacrifice that defined one of America’s deadliest wars.
Today, Norman Prince is largely forgotten. Only a few of the many visitors to the National Cathedral know who the young war hero was or what he did. Prince was one of the founders of the Lafayette Escadrille, the most famous squadron of American flyers in France. The pilots of the Escadrille also served as the pioneering squadron of what would eventually become the United States Army Air Corps, the modern-day Air Force.
Prince was a native New Englander and a graduate of Harvard Law School. Despite the fact that he had an impressive career in front of him, he knew that one of America’s greatest allies—France, who had supported America in our fight for freedom—was under siege. He felt called to make a personal sacrifice to protect their freedom. Since the airplane was still a new invention and the United States did not have an army air corps, he volunteered with other young Americans to form a squadron to defend France against Kaiser Wilhelm’s air force—the most deadly in the world at the time.
Even before America formally joined the war effort in 1917, the members of the Escadrille felt it was their solemn duty as American citizens to defend freedom where it was most hotly under assault. It was a decision not made lightly; the planes used in World War I were infamously dangerous and unreliable, and parachutes were still a thing of the future. Each of the members of the Escadrille chose to join with the knowledge that he likely was going to his death.
“They all led comfortable lives, at least most of them did,” says Paul Glenshaw, a filmmaker in Silver Spring, Maryland, who is making a documentary film about the Escadrille. “They had no business being there . . . many of them knowing that they would not survive.” 4 Of the original thrity-eight members who made up the squadron, ten lost their lives—including Prince.
Before he died, Prince took a much-deserved leave from the war and took the opportunity to tell a Boston audience what it was like to serve in a massive global conflict, saying, “The terrible racket and spectacle of shells exploding nearby made me shiver. My limbs began to tremble. . . . My legs went so wobbly . . . that I tried to hide them from my observer, who was an old hand at the game. I confess to the feeling of relief when we reached the point where our bombs were to be thrown over.” 5
In 1916, just a few months after he spoke in Boston, Prince was killed when his airplane crashed and he was thrown out, breaking both his legs and fracturing his skull. For three days, he was in a coma, and he eventually succumbed to his injuries. In those three days, the French government bestowed upon him one of its highest medals for valor: the French Legion of Honor. And during his funeral in France, planes dropped flowers from the sky to honor him and his service. For the next twenty years, his body laid in state at the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial near Paris.
In 1937, his parents commissioned the construction of a small chapel inside the Washington National Cathedral in honor of their son. They removed his remains from France and brought him home to rest on the American soil he loved so deeply. Prince’s body traveled from France to Washington, D.C., in a flag-draped coffin. On the final leg of the journey—from Union Station to the cathedral—U.S. Army airplanes flew in tribute overhead.
At about the same time, Irving Berlin, who had written “God Bless America” during the height of World War I, was re-writing his lyrics as another threat to freedom loomed over the world—the Axis Powers—with an updated version emerging in late 1938. Berlin felt that the song should be one that embraced peace and unity in the wake of the Axis threat. He removed lyrics that might be misconstrued as taking a political stance (such as removing the words “to the right” and replacing them with “through the night”). He also added an intro that is rarely heard today that said, “While the storm clouds gather far across the sea / Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free / Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, / As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.” 6
No one should confuse the love of country with the gospel of Jesus Christ. As stated earlier, Berlin was Jewish and he just wanted to express his gratefulness to God for the blessings he had received in his new land. Norman Prince’s sacrificial service to help his brothers and sisters in France demonstrates how good citizenship and patriotism often flow from faith in God and gratitude to Him.
Unfortunately, in recent years, this type of patriotism has come under increasing attack. In the first chapter of the book, we discussed how the teaching of American history had changed from showing gratitude for our freedoms to promoting a succession of grievances against the country. Thus, Americans are pitted against each other rather than brought together in unity—despite our personal political and religious views. The motives of those, such as Irving Berlin, who loved the opportunity and freedoms he found in his adopted land are questioned. The heroism and sacrifice of men like Norman Prince and the Escadrille are dismissed and forgotten.
No, we are not perfect. Yes, there is injustice in society and it needs to be rooted out and dealt with. Yes, we still suffer from the sin of racism that has plagued our nation since before its founding era. On that, there is no argument. But no other nation on earth, despite its ills, has given its people more for which to be grateful. Unlike other nations, we have freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to peacefully assemble—to name just a few of the freedoms that people in other nations do not have.
That is why we need to put our differences aside and realize that regardless of our race, religion, political beliefs, or whatever disagreements we may have, ultimately we are all made in the image of God and are one, united together—E Pluribus Unum—for the greater good of all. We must empathize with each other, rather than attack each other, if we are going to be one nation indivisible.
When America came together to help the devastated families of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, writer Peggy Noonan observed, “My beloved America, you’re not a mirage. You’re still here.” 7 What we witnessed in the aftermath of the hurricane was true patriotism. Being a patriot means sacrificing for others, like the furniture store owners who allowed people fleeing the floods to sleep in the clean beds they were planning to sell. Sacrifice also means meeting someone with whom you disagree, getting to know him or her, and thoughtfully listening to his or her perspective. Most of all, we are motivated by our gratitude to God—and because each person is made in his image—to love and sacrifice for our fellow citizens with whom we live side by side in freedom.
It is because of this love and gratitude for God, our country, and each other that individuals such as Norman Prince laid down their lives for people they may never have met, but to whom they were bound as fellow lovers of freedom. It is why we put aside our differences and help those devastated by Hurricane Harvey, a horrible earthquake, or some other sort of disaster. It is why in the days after the horrific attacks of 9/11, Americans of all stripes gathered together and sang “God Bless America,” because like Irving Berlin and Norman Prince, we know, deep in our hearts, that we have been blessed by God—even if we do not deserve it—with the precious gift of freedom.