Proclaim Liberty.us

My name is David Hall. I am the Belladier, the keeper of the Bell.  Do not look up Belladier in the dictionary.  It’s not there, yet.  I created the word to describe what I do as I created the Liberty & Law Memorial to honor those individuals who protect our laws, our treaties and people at home and around the world.  We are the “Land of the Free” because of the Brave.   The traveling Liberty Bell tolls today as Bells have tolled for over 500 years honoring heroes who have laid down their lives for their countrymen.  The Liberty Bell, the sacred icon of 1753, tolled for our Founding Fathers: Benjamin Franklin-1790, George Washington-1799, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson-1826.  My wife, Phyllis, and I have traveled through England and Europe; visited many Bell sites and studied their traditions as well as the concluding honors afforded our Heroes in America over the past 250 years.   

Since the war on terrorism began in Afghanistan and Iraq I have tolled the “Nations only exact replica traveling Liberty Bell” at over 500 funerals for our active duty, Killed in Action Military Heroes. I realize, as many of you, the Cost of Freedom paid by our sons and daughters for this Nation is high, and that it is our duty to pay tribute for these great sacrifices.  We as a Nation can never forget the price they paid for our Liberty.  I meet the families of our Fallen, and they too understand this high cost.  We as fellow Americans need to hold them in our arms while God comforts their hearts.  In fulfilling this duty my life becomes richer and more meaningful because of these families and their American Heroes.  On 9-11-2001 I was riding to work when the Twin Towers fell.  My son Caleb turned up the truck radio and we rode on in awe.  We knew war was here.  Caleb, age 20, and a member of the Texas State Guard called his compatriots, and I age fifty, father of five, grandfather of 10 knew what I could do.  I would ring the Liberty Bell as the Belladier in Philadelphia did exactly 225 years before when on September 11, 1777 Washington’s Continentals were defeated at Brandywine Creek leaving Philadelphia open to invasion by the British Army.   I volunteered with WBAP radio and The American Red Cross to toll the Liberty Bell.  Within five days of the attack in New York we had completed four major events throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  Texans rallied to fill the blood banks and donated over one million dollars in cash within those five days for those in need, and all were encouraged to “Ring the Liberty Bell.”  This is also how the Liberty Bell responded to hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike.  

When people call and request the Liberty Bell we ask who, what, why, when, where and how can we best help.  Then we make a plan of action.  Since 9-11 the Liberty Bell has tolled in concluding honors for two Presidents, Ford and Reagan, and for 24 Police Officers and Firemen.  When a Police Officer or Fireman goes down, within a few hours we are there with a solemn memorial in place until the funeral service is concluded.  I am not a grief counselor, but after 15 years of tolling the Liberty Bell I have had the opportunity to study traumatic loss as few others.  I see the loss weekly and know some of the sorrow felt by those left behind.  My brother was killed, my father died from a fall, and my mother succumbed to cancer.  While on duty at the Liberty Bell & Law Memorial I was struck down by a drunk driver and left for dead.  A 16 year old boy and his father found me under the Bell trailer, bound my head wounds with their shirt and gave life saving care along with the Police and Paramedics.  None thought I would live. I sustained head lacerations, a trauma hernia, 5 broken ribs, 4 lower vertebras were broken in 12 places, and burns covered my legs and torso.  Within 35 hours of the accident I walked out of the hospital with no surgery, in some pain from the ribs and back, but all would heal in time.  God blessed everyone’s efforts, answered the prayers of many, and the traveling Liberty Bell continues to roll and toll.   Today I am pain free and when I meet people they look at me and say “We prayed for you.”  To all who stopped their lives and prayed for me I want to say Thank You from my heart….your prayers were heard and I continue my duty as Belladier.   

I have a small 12” X 12” steam train Liberty Bell that I use at the Veterans Hospitals, Soldiers & Sailors Homes and other places where a 2,500 lb. Bell will not fit in the elevator.  I tell the maimed, the severely disabled and the suicidal that their prosthetic limbs are Medals of Honor.  I tell them that as they once had a duty to fight the enemy, they now have a duty to outlive the foe.  I tell each one it is my duty to help heal the wounds of war. When I was a small boy my family lived across the street from Schwartz Funeral Home in Hannibal, Missouri.  Richard Schwartz was my childhood friend.  We learned, lived and played around the funeral business.  Jack Schwartz, funeral director, Richard’s father felt it was wrong that someone should go through this life without anyone present to mourn their passing.  When it appeared that the beloved departed had out lived all their family he would call my father, “Eddie, this is Jack, he would say, I have another service today –one who has outlived his family.  Can you come over at 1 p.m.?”  Dad ran his insurance agency out of our home and we would cross the street at the appointed time to become mourners and pall bearers.  At first I was small and had to jump up to sit down on the chapel chair my feet not yet reaching the floor.  Jack would give the eulogy his wife would play the organ.  My hand had to reach up to grasp the rail on the casket as we “pall bearers” went out to the hearse.  If the concluding honor was for a Spanish American war Veteran my dad would wear his Navy Honor Guard uniform and we would travel out to the cemetery.  When the hearse returned to the funeral home we helpers would remove the side panels, fender skirts, reinstall the oxygen bottle, the bed and over head flashing light for the next ambulance run.  My childhood filled with these memories helps me understand what I must do today to honor these same men.  Each generation has its Heroes. 

For honoring our First Responders and Military I have received many honors from a grateful Nation.  These honors include pins and commendations from Presidents Clinton and Bush.  The highest Civilian awards from the Sons of the American Revolution, The American Legion, New York Fire Departments, commendations from the Military Order of World Wars & the Veterans Administration.  I have been commissioned as an Admiral in the Texas Navy by Governor Rick Perry.  The Department of the Interior & the U. S. Park Service invited the Liberty & Law Memorial to be placed on the Philadelphia commons immediately outside the Original Sacred Icon of 1753 in September of 2007.  This was the first time an exact replica Liberty Bell has been permitted to be displayed, touched, and tolled by all guests coming to visit Philadelphia. I am proud to be a member of the Patriot Guard Riders.  Organizations can only be great because of the men and women involved in doing good for their fellow man and nation.  I have the privilege to work with these great Americans holding our Nation in their arms comforting the families of our Heroes as they bear the unbearable burdens of war. The greatest honor I receive and covet comes from the families we serve. I have been asked, “I get the Liberty Bell, but what’s up with the Ten Commandments?” The tablets of law flanking the Bell are not there as a religious statement of do’s and don’ts, but they represent the Foundation of Moral Law upon which our culture is built.  There is no Liberty without Law.  It is the perfect representation of the American Separation of Church & State as defined by our Founding Fathers.  Atheist & Theist alike were equally protected and liberated to live according to the inner light in their hearts. The first four commandments reflect the obligation which we owe to the Creator and the manner in which we discharge this obligation was left to the individual.  The remaining six commandments reflect our civil code and no matter your beliefs the civil authorities hold all equally responsible to obey the law.   Thomas Jefferson said the greatest law giver in history was William Penn.  William Penn felt the greatest law giver was Moses.  Today the two greatest symbols of our cultural values are the Ten Commandments and The Liberty Bell. I simply combined them in one display representing the greatest Freedom the world has ever known. 

Because our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Police, and Firemen protect our law and our people we are FREE.  William Penn’s law known as The Charter of Privileges of 1701, based upon the Magna Carta and the Ten Commandments gave citizens of Pennsylvania unprecedented freedom in human history.  Abraham Lincoln described it as a “Government of the People, by the People, and for the People”.  To celebrate the first fifty years of Penn’s Law’s over whelming success a commemorative Bell was ordered and placed in a new bell tower in the highest position of all objects in the American Colonies.  This object of veneration is the Liberty Bell, “The Heartbeat of America.”  The Liberty Bell represents those inalienable rights defined in the “Declaration of Independence,”   the values for which Americans have fought to defend since 1775.  May we never forget the sound of Liberty! In this age of Darwinian atheistic evolution survival of self is paramount; selfishness has become a duty to many and altruism a disease.  Good has become evil and it is changing our culture and our country.  The Son of God, the Jew Jesus Christ is the model for William Penn’s culture of life.  He regarded the good of others as the chief end of all moral action.  This is the inspiration that motivates me to do what I do.  I cannot locate the enemy.  I cannot call up for fire support or clear the field of hostiles or negotiate the peace.  My duty is to honor and encourage those who can, who will, who do and who have done so.   

Everywhere I go I teach these values to others from Kindergarten to concluding Honors.  My hope is that in honoring these values and these individuals, God will continue to send these American Heroes our way and we will remain “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.”  Liberty For All,David Hall, Belladier