Orator Evangelo (Vann) Morris recently received a standing ovation following his moving tribute to the nation’s veterans in which he personified the American flag.

“I would like for you to know that I believe that if our flag could speak, these are the words that it would say. Ladies and gentlemen, I now present, Old Glory,” the retired Navy officer told attendees at the Reagan Round Up GOP 2020 in Spring Lake, North Carolina.

“I am the flag of the United States of America. My name is Old Glory. I fly atop the world’s tallest buildings, and I stand watch in America’s halls of justice. I fly majestically across the great institutions of learning and I stand guard with the greatest military power in the world,” Morris said.

“Look up, and see me. I stand for peace, truth, honor, and justice. I stand for freedom. I am confident, I am brave, I am proud and I am ready,” he continued, adding, “Except for my God, I bow to no one.”

“I am recognized all over the world. I am sovereign, I am saluted, I am respected, I am honored, I am loved, and yet I am feared,” he stated.

As the music swelled, Morris listed battlefields on which brave Americans sacrificed themselves for their country, such as Gettysburg, the beaches of Normandy, Guam, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and “scores of other places long forgotten by all except those that were there with me. I know because I was there.”

“I was on the small hill, Iwo Jima, I was dirty, battle worn, tired, but my soldiers and my sailors, my airmen, my Coast Guardsmen, my Marines, they all cheered me and I was so very proud,” he continued.

From its vantage point on the moon, the flag has been the silent witness to all of the nation’s finest hours, Morris stated.

“But my finest hour comes when my stripes are torn into strips to be used as bandages to cover the wounds of my fellow comrades on the field of battle,” he explained.

“And also when I fly at half mast to honor my soldiers and my sailors, my airmen, my Coast Guardsmen, and my Marines. But most importantly, when I am placed into the trembling arms of a grieving mother at the gravesite of her fallen son or her fallen daughter, I am so very proud,” he said.

“My name is Old Glory, long may I wave, dear God, long may I wave,” Morris concluded.