Bangladesh Victory Day, 16 December

Bangladesh celebrates “December 16”  as “Victory Day” (Bijôe Dibôsh) is a national holiday. On this day in 1971, the Pakistani Army surrendered to the Indo-Bangladeshi High Command in Dhaka, ending the 9 month-long Bangladesh Liberation War and 1971 Bangladesh atrocities. Lt. General A.A.K. Niazi, Commanding Officer of the Pakistan Armed Forces of the then East Pakistan, surrendered his forces to Lt. Gen J. Singh Arora, Commander of the Allied Forces.
AIR newscaster, Surojit Sen, with mike at right.  Vice Admiral Krishnan, Air Marshal Dewan, Lt. Gen Sagat Singh, Maj Gen J.F.R. Jacob (with Flt Lt Krishnamurthy peering over his shoulder). Others: Vice-Admiral Mohd Shariff, Commander of the Pak Eastern Naval Command and Air Vice-Marshal Patrick D. Callaghan of the Pak Air Force's Eastern Air Force Command, signed the agreement. For Bangladesh, Air Comdr A. K. Khandker acted as witness to the surrender. Lt. Gen. Sagat Singh, Commander of the Indian IV Corps, Air Marshal H.C.Dewan, Commander of Indian Eastern Air Command, Maj.Gen. Rafael Jacob, Chief of Staff of the Indian Eastern Command, acted as witnesses on behalf of India. Lt. Gen. Aurora accepted the surrender without a word
The Instrument of Surrender was signed at Ramna Race Course in Dhaka on December 16, 1971, by Lt General J. S. Arora, General Officer Commanding in Chief of Eastern Command of the Indian Army and Lt. General A.A.K. Niazi, Commander of Pakistani Forces, as the formal act of surrender of all Pakistani Forces. Also present during the ceremony were Lt. General J.F.R. Jacob, Chief of Staff of the Eastern Command and architect of the plan for the capture of Bangladesh.
Issue Date: 29-07-1971

Designer: Biman Mallik

Printer: Format International Printing Press, U.K.

The  flag of Bangladesh  used during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. 

 The map was later deleted in 1972 from the flag. The red disc represents the sun rising over the golden Bengal (Soner Bangla), and also the blood of those who died for the independence of Bangladesh. The green field stands for the lushness of the land of Bangladesh.

  Indian stamp issued on 10 April 1973, in commemoration of the inauguration of the first Parliament on 26-3-1971, gave itself a constitution on 16 December 1972. The stamp shows its National Flag with the Shapla - the National Flower of Bangladesh.

 Note the typical perforation shift only at the left bottom corner

India also commemorates victory over Pakistan on the same day in 1971 as Vijay Divas on 16 December.

Amar Shonar Bangla (My Golden Bengal) - the National Anthem of Bangladesh was written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore in 1905.

FLAGS in National Anthems and Patriotic Songs, Part- VIII

For last few couple of posts I endeavour to present the "Anthems and Patriotic Songs featured in postage stamps" with brief notes mostly from my collection built up over the years with my little wherewithal s. Readers will appreciate that to present an exhaustive list of philatelic items featuring 'Flags in National Anthems and Patriotic Songs' is next to impossible and perhaps, can never be completed. I, therefore, welcome my readers to contribute in this Post for omissions, as well as, to bring forward any new findings for the sake of academic interest of all concerned.

Tunisia 
Humat Al Hima"(L’Hymne National Tunisien) is the national anthem of Tunisia since November 1987.The text was written by Mostafa Saadeq Al-Rafe’ie. The music was composed by Mohammed Abdelwahab.

The song proclaims: “The banner of war in the north we have raised, by oath we to ransom our land all our bound”. The verse three continues  “The flag, as it waves in the sky, now salute, with honour and glory and great victory”.

Turkey

“The March of Independence” (Istikal Marsi) was adopted as National Anthem in 1921 and its words were written by Mehmet Akif Ersoy (1873-1936) and its music was originally composed by Ali Rifat Çağatay's, but the same  was replaced in 1930 by a symphonic arrangement written by Zeki Üngör (1880-1958), conductor of the Presidential Symphonic Orchestra, with a new harmonization supplied by the Turkish-Armenian composer Edgar Manas.

               Fear not and be not dismayed                                                    This crimson flag will never fade                                                     It is the last hearth that’s burning                                                For my nation and we know for sure                                                     That it will never fail.                                                                       It is my nation’s star that ever forth  will shine.                               It is my nation’s star and it is mine.

Frown not, fair crescent, for I                                                     Am ready e’en to die for thee                                                   Smile now upon my heroic nation, leave this anger.                   Lest the bloodshed for thee unblessed be.                              Freedom’s the right of this my nation,                                  Yes, freedom for us who worship God and seek what’s right.

Turkmenistan

 Turkmen, the national Anthem of Independent Neutral Turkmenistan. The lyrics were written by Saparmurat Niyazov,  the first president of Turkmenistan. 

The anthem has the following wordings:

I am ready to give life for native hearth
The spirit of ancestors descendants are famous for
My land is sacred. My flag flies in the world
A symbol of the great neutral country flies.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

The National Anthem of the UAE is Ishy Bilady (Long Live my Nation), was officially adopted in 1971. The anthem was composed by Saad Abdel Wahab, who also composed the national anthems of  Libya. The lyrics to the anthem, adopted in 1996, were written by Arif Al Sheikh Abdullah Al Hassan.

  The safety has lasted and the flag has lived oh our Emirates       The symbol of Arabism                                                      We all sacrifice for you, we supply you with our blood              We sacrifice for you with our souls oh homeland

United States of America (USA)

The verses one through four of "The Star Spangled Banner" refer to the national flag of the US fondly called "The Old Glory" refer to the US flag with 15 stars & 15 stripes (1795-1818) that withstood enemy bombardment at Fort McHenry, Maryland, September 13/14, 1814, and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the "Star Spangled Banner."

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the US Navy in 1889 and the President in 1916, and was made the national anthem  in 1931.

  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
 

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

50th anniversary of the adoption of US National Anthem

 The "Star-spangled Banner", was composed on board HMS MINDEN in 1814 by Francis Scott Key in Baltimore harbour when he was a prisoner of the British on board HMS Minden, an Indian teakwood man-of-war was happened to be the first ship to be launched in 1810 from Duncan Dock of Naval Dockyard, Bombay. This was also the first ship commissioned in the Royal Navy from India.HMS Minden was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 June 1810. She was named after the German town Minden and the Battle of Minden of 1759, a decisive victory of British and Prussian forces over France in the Seven Years' War.

Vietnam

Tiến Quân Ca (Forward, Soldiers) is the National anthem of Vietnam. It was written and composed by Van Cao in 1944, and was adopted in 1945. 
  The first verse states:
“Our flag, red with the blood of victory, bears the spirit of the country…” The second verse goes on: “The gold star of our flag in the wind, leading our people, our mother land, out of misery and suffering”.