In English Only shalt thou express

Love for America and its success.

In Classic Latin or Greek of old

America’s story can’t be told,

E pluribus unum has been excessed!

In God We Trust* will guard and bless

America with His Largess:

Our motto stamped with letters bold

In English Only.

My cousins spoke no English but I guess

They still could fight for old U.S.

On foreign soils, their bodies cold,

Far from their Isle of green and gold –

The telegrams told us of their deaths

(Dedicated to the “Borinqueneers,”

members of the 65th Infantry Regiment,

US Army, Puerto Rico.)

The 65th Infantry Regiment, comprised primarily of Puerto Ricans, began as a volunteer regiment in 1899 and participated in WWI and WWII. It was during the Korean War that they made their mark and saw extensive combat.

* In 1956 Congress voted to replace “e pluribus unum” as our national motto with “In God We Trust”.