When we became allies with them in WWII, the verse drops out of use in “The Star-Spangled Banner.” O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand There is some contention over the word usage here.

George Armistead to make a flag for Fort McHenry. This flag, which measured 30 feet by 42 feet, was the original ...

His “Star-Spangled Banner” is a throwback to Puritan times ... Isabel Morse Jones wrote that Stravinsky “made the words and melody easier to sing — but duller to listen to.” ...