The spirit of sacrifice is the spirit of America. It has given us birth, and over 200 years of a long, prosperous, and free life. May I share just one example that typifies the sacrifice I speak of?

In August of 1776 the British forces captured Long Island. General Washington desperately needed information on British positions and strength. He asked Lt. Colonel Thomas Knowlton to find a volunteer officer who would take the risk of returning to Long Island in disguise, and spy on the British and obtain the needed information.

Knowlton turned to the Rangers, a special elite group of fighting men distinguished for their daring and leadership. On the first call, no one stepped forward. At the second call, one young man, a 21-year-old captain from Connecticut, stepped forward.

Posing as a schoolteacher looking for fall employment, he crossed the British Lines and gathered the vital information. However while he was there, the British captured New York rendering his information useless. Well, rather than give up and having some grit in him, he crossed the East River with the British and once again made notes and drawings of their positions.

Then, on the night of September 21, 1776, while on his way home, he was captured by the British. Without even the formality of a trial, he was condemned to be hanged the next morning. Sometime before sunrise, the doomed man was led out to be executed. He asked for a Bible and a clergyman. Both requests were denied.

He was led to a tree with a ladder leaning against it and a noose dangling from an overhead limb. With hands bound, he was forced up the ladder where the noose was placed over his neck and tightened. With a remarkable calmness of mind and spirit, Nathan Hale, the brave self-sacrificing schoolteacher turned soldier spoke those last words that have stirred Americans for over 200 hundred years. He said, “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

My dear friends, please hear what I have to say: If the spirit of sacrifice ever departs from American hearts, the power and fortitude to perpetuate our freedoms will vanish with it. As God lives, may it never be.