Hi all just thought I'd take a sec and post back on the original topic:
Origins of the Yellow ribbon relating to Soldiers.
The yellow ribbon itself is first linked to soldiers in the 1940's version of the song song "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" - made famous in 1949 by the John Wayne movie of the same name - attributed to Russ Miller and his Orchestra who performed the song for the movie.
There are many earlier versions referencing "lover" instead of soldier, the earliest copyright record of which is a composition by George A. Norton in 1917. Norton gave as his title "Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon (For her Lover Who Is Fur, Fur Away)."
Ancestors of the song exist in traditional British folk music dating back over four hundred years to 1578 and a song titled "All Round My Cap" in which the chorus runs:
All round my hat, I wears a green willow,
All round my hat, for a twelvemonth and a day;
If anyone should ask, the reason why I wears it,
Tell them that my true love is far, far away.
In William Shakespeare's "Othello", Act IV, scene 3, Desdemona refers to a song of "willow" sung by a maid whose love had forsaken her.
Over that four hundred years the song evolved from a token of green willow for a lover, to a yellow ribbon as a token for a beloved soldier.
The "Tree" connection evolves on a seperate tangent. The symbol of a ribbon on a tree shows up for the first time in the late 1950's and takes a firm hold on the American Psyche in the 1970's, not as a symbol for returning soldiers, but as a sign of redemption and acceptance of a returning convict.
The popular song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" referenced in the intial post on this topic was about a convict returning home after three years in prison. The song which topped the Billboar Top 40 charts in 1973 was based on one of many stories all referencing a returning convict circulating in the 1960's.
The earliest documented version of the ribbon-on-a-tree story, was printed in a book on prison reform called "Star Wormwood" by Pennsylvania judge Curtis Bok. In this version the convict was returning home via train from five years in prison and asked his family in a letter to tie a white ribbon in the apple tree near the railroad tracks at the bottom of their garden. In the end afraid to look for himself, his companion tells him "There it is," he cried. "It's all right! The whole tree is white with ribbons." Bok credits the story to Kenyon J. Scudder, first superintendent of Chino penitentiary.
in 1971 a version of the story was published moving the story from a train to a bus and substituting a yellow ribbon on an oak tree for the white ribbons on the apple tree. In 1972, the story was adapted into a televsion movie starring James Earl Jones. Also in 1972, Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown published the song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon".
In January 1975, Gail Magruder, wife of Jeb Stuart Magruder (a central figure int he Nixon Presidency scandal known as "Watergate") decorated her front porch with yellow ribbons to welcome her husband home from jail. The story was widely covered in print and television media.
The evolution of tying a yellow ribbon on a tree for a returning convict picks up momentum in 1979, when students sieze the US Embassy in Tehran, and when Penelope Laingen, wife of the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires in Tehran is being interviewed by CBS news and shown standing next to a yellow ribbon tied around a tree in her front yard to welcome her husband home.
In later interviews, Mrs Laingen is quoted: "It just came to me," she said, "to give people something to do, rather than throw dog food at Iranians. I said, 'Why don't they tie a yellow ribbon around an old oak tree.' That's how it started."
From there the Yellow ribbon campaign was launched. The hostage families met and formed an association: the Family Liaison Action Group (FLAG). FLAG worked with numerous activist groups to circulate yellow ribbons - from college students and union workers to TV weather forcasters. Their goal was simple - create a positive symbol to rally support for the hostages.
Over the next ten years Yellow ribbons became a universal symbol for the hope of safe return to family and loved ones.
In 1991 when US Troops deployed the Persion Gulf, Yellow ribbons were there to let them know their families would stand vigil for their safe return, and have been worn or displayed for the families and victims of national tragedies and Military deployments ever since...
Loyalty and Courage
Timothy Jahn
Fomerly of B CO 2/5 Cav 1 CavDiv USAR
