In my relatively short career, it seems I have photographed a lot of moments of patriotism. From funerals to football games to parades, patriotism is everywhere in the United States. We are a people extremely proud of our nation in good times and bad. Patriotism is the only thing that can bring a rambunctious crowd of 17,000 at a college basketball game to a dead silence. Patriotism is what compels young me to fight – and die – in foreign wars as volunteers. Patriotism is what binds us. Happy Independence Day, especially to those who serve.
![Jeremy McQueary Memorial Master Gunnery Sgt. John Lund, a member of the Marine honor guard, listens to a memorial ceremony for Sgt. Jeremy McQueary on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010, at The Seasons Lodge and Conference Center in Nashville, Ind. Lund, a veteran of the Vietnam War, Gulf War and Iraqi War, folded a flag in McQueary's ceremony. McQueary, 27, was killed in the Helmand Province in Afghanistan on Feb. 18.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/brosher_01.jpg)
![IU-Iowa Football The American Flag is reflected off the helmet of a member of the color guard before a football game between IU and Iowa on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009, in Iowa City, Iowa.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/015_iufootball2009.jpg)
![Women's Little 500 Phi Beta Phi rider Caroline Brown, middle, watches an American flag wave during the playing of the National Anthem before the start of the Women's Little 500 on Friday, April 23, 2010, at Bill Armstrong Stadium. (James Brosher/Bloomington Herald-Times)](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/wlittle500_042310_07.jpg)
![Independence Day on the Prairie Reenactors make their way down a road at Pioneer Farms on Saturday, July 3, 2010. Saturday was Independence Day on the Prairie.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/jtbPioneerFarms07.jpg)
![Hell on Wheels Ross Spencer, from Kumbarilla, Australia, puts a rifle back onto a gun rack after a shoot during the Hell on Wheels shooting competition on Friday, July 1, 2011, at the Cheyenne Regulators Range west of Cheyenne.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110701-HellonWheels0066-jb1.jpg)
![Indiana-Iowa Baseball Iowa's Zach McCool (25) watches as a singer performs the National Anthem despite a sudden heavy rain shower before a game against Indiana on Friday, April 16, 2010, at Sembower Field. The game was postponed until Saturday due to rain and thunderstorms in the area.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/brosher-poy_17.jpg)
![tiscorniawwii062009b U.S Marine re-enactors portray the famous Iwo Jima flag raising after re-enactments of of D-Day and Pacific Theater landings on Saturday, June 20, 2009 at Tiscornia Beach in St. Joseph, Mich. (James Brosher/South Bend Tribune)](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/tiscorniawwii062009b.jpg)
![Semper Fi Fish Fry Karl Schmidt, a World War II veteran and Marine who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945, holds a piece of cake as one of the oldest Marines in attendance at a Semper Fi Fish Fry on Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010, at Kelleher's Irish Pub. The event featured a formal Marine cake cutting ceremony in which guests of honor, the oldest Marine and youngest Marine receive pieces of cake cut by a Mameluke sword.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/brosher-poy_64.jpg)
![Korean War 60th Anniversary Andrew "Buddy" Blair, a Korean War veteran, salutes the flag during a ceremony marking the 60th Anniversary of the start of the Korean War at the Texas Korean War Veterans Memorial on Friday, June 25, 2010.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/jtbKoreanWar02.jpg)
![Tarrytown Fourth of July Parade Michael Allen, age 6, looks back at the crowd assembled for the Tarrytown Fourth of July parade as he rides in his father's 1972 Buick Skylark Gran Sport on Saturday, July 3, 2010.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/jtbTarrytownParade01.jpg)
![Memorial Day in Cheyenne An American flag blows in the wind and rain during a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 30, 2011, at Beth El Cemetery in Cheyenne.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/20110530-MemorialDay0038-jb.jpg)
![Tarrytown Fourth of July Parade Rick Smith waves to participants in the Tarrytown Fourth of July Parade from the sidewalk in front of his home on Saturday, July 3, 2010.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/jtbTarrytownParade02.jpg)
![Jeremy McQueary Memorial Patriot Guard member Mike Purcell speaks to a fellow member before the start of a memorial service for Marine Sgt. Jeremy McQueary on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010, outside The Seasons Lodge and Conference Center in Nashville, Ind. McQueary, 27, was killed in the Helmand Province in Afghanistan on Feb. 18.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/07_mcquearymemorial.jpg)
![Anti-Abortion Rally A man looks back at the singer as she performs the National Anthem before the start of an anti-abortion rally on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2010, in Riverfront Park in East Peoria.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/abortion_05.jpg)
![Korean War 60th Anniversary Andrew "Buddy" Blair, a Korean War veteran, rolls up the American flag after a ceremony marking the 60th Anniversary of the start of the Korean War at the Texas Korean War Veterans Memorial on Friday, June 25, 2010.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/jtbKoreanWar05.jpg)
![Memorial Day in Cheyenne Clarence Porter, a member of the Forty and Eight Club, walks down a cemetery road after a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 30, 2011, at Beth El Cemetery in Cheyenne.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/20110530-MemorialDay0015-jb.jpg)
![East Peoria-Washington Football Terry Hicks, of Galsburg, Ill., salutes as taps are played to honor former East Peoria High School students who have been killed in the military during patriotic night ceremonies before a East Peoria-Washington football game on Friday, Sept. 10, 2010, in East Peoria. Hicks served with the Army in Vietnam.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/brosher-poy_45.jpg)
![Independence Day on the Prairie An American flag flutters in the wind at Pioneer Farms on Saturday, July 3, 2010. Saturday was Independence Day on the Prairie.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/jtbPioneerFarms05.jpg)
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