When Wailes and I were on a Carolina trip to London for the Queen's Jubilee, our tour bus took us to Windsor Castle by way of Runnymede. It was impressive, even when viewed from a moving bus! This long green meadow is where King John met the demands of the barons and signed this famous document on June 15, 1215, promising the protection of church rights, illegal imprisonment, swift justice, and other limitations on the king's powers. Neither the King nor the Council of 25 Barons complied with the Magna Carta, which Pope Innocent III later annulled. It wasn't until 1297 that the Magna Carta became part of England's statue law and, of course, had a great impact on our own Bill of Rights.
At the top of the hill, you can see the Kennedy Memorial, which was opened by the Queen on the 14th May 1965 in the presence of the Prime Minster and many members of the Kennedy family. The inscription on the memorial was taken from a line in Kennedy's inaugural address: "Let every Nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty."
THE FLAG GOES BY
Henry Holcomb BennettHats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A flash of color beneath the sky:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!
Blue and crimson and white it shines,
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.
Hats off!
The colors before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by.
Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great,
Fought to make and to save the State:
Weary marches and sinking ships;
Cheers of victory on dying lips;
Days of plenty and years of peace;
March of a strong land's swift increase;
Equal justice, right, and law,
Stately honor and reverend awe;
Sign of a nation, great and strong
Toward her people from foreign wrong:
Pride and glory and honor,--all
Live in the colours to stand or fall.
Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
And loyal hearts are beating high:
Hats off!
The Flag is passing by!
Information provided by Jane Thomas
Chapter Master Reporter Assistance State Chair
