Pvt. Frank E. Bellamy - Morehead Cemetery, Morehead, KS - Specific Veteran Memorials on Waymarking.com

Frank E. Bellamy was a veteran of the Spanish-American War. He enlisted in May 1898 in Company G, 20th Kansas Infantry Regiment, and served as a musician in the hospital corps. He returned from the war in poor health and died in 1915. He is buried in Fairview Cemetery in his home town of Cherryvale, which is about eight miles south of Morehead. According to this monument, Bellamy is the author of the Pledge of Allegiance.

The memorial is a black granite monument bearing a photograph of Private Bellamy, an image of the Congressional Medal, and the text give below. It is set to the left (west) of a veterans memorial.

Marker Text:

IN MEMORY OF PVT. FRANK E. BELLAMY
20th KAN CO "G"
KANSAS NATIONAL GUARD

To stimulate patriotism of the Spanish-American War in 1898-1899 President McKinley appointed the Grand Army Societies and Woman's Relief Corps to select a new national flag pledge. A call went out to all patriotic societies to submit ideas for a new flag pledge to help promote the war. Lillian Hendricks, W.R.C. Patriotic Instructor, submitted the pledge Frank Bellamy had written in 1896 and she had preserved from the class contest to be considered. Frank was fighting across the seas in the Phillipine War in 1899. Selected from thousands submitted, Frank Bellamy's pledge won and was adopted by Pres. McKinley and the Grand Army Societies as the National Flag Plege in 1899.

Frank Bellamy wrote his original pledge in 1890 for a national essay contest for a magazine. Again in 1896 his senior year at Cherryvale, Frank submitted his pledge and won a class contest sponsored by Lillian Hendricks, W.R.C. Patriotic Instructor. She gave Frank a prize and preserved his pledge in 1896. Later in 1899 she submitted Frank's pledge while he was at war and it was chosen as the new national flag pledge.

"A Kansas Schoolboy Wrote Our Pledge of Loyalty To The Flag"
Kansas City Star, APril 22, 1917

Website pertaining to the memorial: [Web Link] List if there are any visiting hours: Dawn to Dusk Entrance fees (if it applies): 0 Type of memorial: Monument

Visit Instructions:

*(1.)* Please submit a photo(s) taken by you of your visit to the location (non-copyrighted photos only). GPS photos are also accepted with the location in the background, and old vacation photos are accepted. If you are not able to provide a photo, then please describe your visit or give a story about the visit.
*(2.)* If you have additional information about the memorial which is not listed in the waymark description, please notify the waymark owner to have it added, and please post the information in your visit log.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.