Key verse from anthem is overlooked
Americans have just finished celebrating the 4th of July. And yesterday I was sent a video made last September of a young girl singing "The Star Spangled Banner" at a sporting event in Los Angeles.
Her name is Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja. What a wonderful example of someone singing the anthem with such strength and passion. After listening to Maela's singing, my mind traveled back to another verse of the song, the fourth verse.
Somewhere, I and other students were taught and learned this verse as well as the traditional first verse - I suspect it was in grammar or high school in Chicago in the 1950s. Back then it was a verse deemed patriotic that summed up what Francis Scott Key felt was how our country was able to overcome division and to come together in the pursuit of liberty and freedom.
The verse begins with "O! thus be it ever when free men shall stand" and concludes with "And this be our motto - 'In God is our trust!' And The Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
Sadly, I suspect that very few Americans today know or have ever read or sung this verse and that it could be taught in public schools.
Ron Entzminger
Arlington Heights