Throughout all the great east with a powerful hand
That sways through the sky and the sea and the land
The dark monster of war holds invincible sway
And nation meets nation in murderous fray
And the flag of your country and mine
Does now wave o’er the battle’s line
But that Star-Spangled Banner for liberty stands
From American’s shores to the Rhine
Oh, how long shall be exiled the sweet dove of peace?
Our eagle of vict’ry will bring her release
Only then will as brother to brother they meet
With hand in hand clasped and the sword in its sheath
Then we’ll stand by the flag of the free
And forever loyal will be
For that Star-Spangled Banner for liberty stands
Ev’rywhere, o’er the land and the sea
By Hedvig Grund
This poem was set to music by one of Hedy’s brothers-in-law Gerhard Theodore Alexis.
Gerhard served as director of the Swedish Lutheran Church Choir at Bethany Lutheran Church in Ishpeming, MI from 1910-1911. Among his choristers were the three eldest Grund daughters – Hedvig, Olga, and Alma.
After Gerhard finished his year-long appointment at Bethany, he continued his music studies at Augustana College in Rock Island, Il, and later, in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1916, he secured a position as organist and choir director at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in St. Paul, MN. Gerhard and Olga were married that same year on the Grund family farm near Ishpeming before moving to St. Paul and starting a family. Gerhard was recognized as an accomplished musician – a singer, pianist, organist, arranger, composer, choir director, and music teacher.
While the date of Hedy’s poem is unknown, its text strongly indicates that it was composed well after the United States entered WWI in April 1917, but before the war’s end, declared by the Armistice of 11 November 1918. As the poem is entitled “Our Flag Over There”, it may well be that Hedy wrote it after answering the call to serve as a Red Cross nurse in France but before sailing from America’s shores for that appointment in August 1918.
Gerhard had composed this piece some years before the war and had set another patriotic text to its tune, that of Hezekiah Butterworth’s poem “The School House Stands By The Flag.” Gerhard’s hand-written draft of this initial setting is dated January 8, 1910.
It is likely that Hedy shared her poem with family members, including brother-in-law Gerhard, after returning from her WWI service in July 1919.
That Gerhard was inspired to set Hedy’s poem to his tune (which had been composed perhaps ten years earlier) may be viewed as a testament to their shared love of family and country.
Listen to a 2023 recording of Our Flag Over There, sung by Hedy’s great nephew and Gerhard’s grandson, David Melbye, accompanied by Alex Amick, piano. See below a scan of Gerhard’s original copy of the song as well as David’s adaption of it into Finale notation software.
Gerhard’s hand-written copy of his musical setting of Our Flag Over There. The singed and partial condition of this page is due to its having miraculously survived a fire in 2007!
Gerhard’s musical setting of Our Flag Over There in Finale Notation.