Today, underneath an auto body shop on 3rd Avenue near 6th Street in Brooklyn lie the graves of 256 soldiers of our Continental army. They were buried in their blue and buff dress uniforms. They were mostly men from Maryland. Well, no: they were barely more than boys from that "Old Line" state, so named (by surviving comrades who became old men, ironically) for these now forever young lads who upheld our fledgling nation's honor on a fateful day, August 27, 1776 A.D. They held off enormously superior numbers of British troops long enough for the bulk of General George Washington's forces to evacuate Brooklyn Heights and safely escape to fog-enshrouded lower Manhattan the evening after the battle to husband their strength and fight another day. Washington had correctly assessed the horror through his telescope as it was about to unfold, unable to intervene from the fortifications atop the Heights. History recorded his cry: "Good God, what brave lads I must this day lose!" The Marylanders, under Brigadier General William Alexander, died where they stood, not just human obstacles like rock as hard as New Hampshire granite, but also as counterattacking watchdogs of liberty who six times charged the British lines with all that their muscle, blood and gunpowder could deliver. These newly "minted" Americans were annihilated except for a handful who escaped across the Gowanus creek. They and their spirit have been followed through the years by our subsequent generations of boys in, anachronistically, Kandahar, Falujah, aboard Flight 93, amongst the rubble of the W.T.C., Khe Sanh, Inchon, Bastogne, Normandy, Anzio, Bataan, Pearl Harbor, Chateau Thierry, San Juan Hill, Gettysburg, Buena Vista, San Jacinto, The Alamo, The Battle of New Orleans, Yorktown and preceded of course by the valor at Bunker Hill and Lexington-Concord. There is truth and there is love revealed by these countless acts of unselfishness.
To forget these brave deeds and supreme sacrifices is to presume perilously on the invulnerability of the luminous freedom that we bask in and to disgrace ourselves and the memory of our forefathers. Yes, freedom is not free. Remember this and remember them.
What has this to do with the concept of "Putney's Palace", one might rightfully ask? Only the perhaps uncool fact that our enjoyment of all kinds of fun, even surreal inanities like "Putney Swope" and "Greaser's Palace" may indeed be gifts from those heroic warriors of yore who have allowed liberty's roots to grow deeply within our soil (and souls) making all varieties of "flowers", however weird, to flourish and thrive or struggle and wither, but the freedom to succeed or fail (as many a film critic asserted in these cases). Tyranny pulverized and the American Revolution continuously realized via Putney's promise not to rock the boat "'cause rockin' the boats a drag. We're not gonna rock the boat, we're gonna sink the boat!" Your Nuttiness, George III, may your shade continue to be afraid as all dictators then, now and in the future did or will learn, we ARE that "shining city on the hill."
ReplyDeleteI will ring my freedom bell today. Thanks for the history lesson, and thanks to all the boys and girls who continue to protect my innocence.
ReplyDeleteThe terms "boys" and "lads" were used more as signs of affection by Americans on the home front than as a focus on the chronological ages of most of the young men who served in our country's wars, at least until recent decades. And perhaps the "grandaddy" of all Oldies But NOT Goodies: Original Sin, speaks to the issue of how innocent any of us are, regardless of age. Finally, don't forget to also "hammer" as Trini said "all over this land."
ReplyDeleteWhy are you justifying this? It's the best thing you've put on the blog so far.
ReplyDeleteWrite as the spirit moves you. That's what Putney's Palace is for.