Mount Vernon, Virginia.- People about to become American citizens sat in folding chairs on George Washington’s lawn at Mount Vernon on Saturday, 250 years after the Declaration of Independence.

The sun was beating down and the well-dressed audience was a flutter of paddle tennis fans emblazoned with American flags. Their families clung to the shade of trees on either side, where one woman had two American flags stuck to her ponytail.

“Well, good morning everyone,” said Anne Neal Petri, regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association.

“Good day!” An excited crowd returned.

“And happy birthday, United States of America!” -Petri exclaimed-.

There were 150 people from 50 countries around the world sitting in front of the small stage as they prepared to be sworn in as American citizens on the July 4 holiday and America’s 250th birthday. Among them was US Marine Sgt. Diakaria Sangare of Guinea, who attended in her pressed blue uniform and three medals pinned to her left breast.

Sangare had served two deployments and, like everyone gathered, had gone through the long citizenship process: the test, the interviews, the green cards and the biometrics. Others in the crowd were said to have come from countries steeped in violence. Some fled persecution.

After a speech about Washington, the crowd was asked to stand for the national anthem.

They did it. They took off their hats and covered their hearts with their hands. The padel fans calmed down.

The singer sang the words: “And the red glow of the rocket, the bombs that burst in the air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,” as Sangare held his right hand in a stiff salute, his face sober.

When the song concluded, the future citizens applauded and returned to their seats, while another speaker asked them to stand and remain standing when their country was called.

“Albania.”

A woman in the front row with long black hair stood up with a wide smile and a small American flag in her hand.

“Bangladesh.”

A man in a black shirt stood up. The Albanian woman, looking back, smiled at him.

It stretched across 50 countries, through China, El Salvador, Iraq and Mongolia, as people stood, sometimes smiling, sometimes calm.

In “Morocco,” a man behind raises his fists in support. A boy looked at him and then did the same, with a little flag in his fist.

The crowd then, with hands raised, recited a pledge of allegiance, not unlike the oath Washington signed in 1778.

“Congratulations,” they told them. “You just became an American citizen.”

There was applause and laughter, then the pledge of allegiance. Sangare, hand now over his heart, closed his eyes for a moment.

Nearby was a tulip poplar, planted by order of Washington 250 years ago, which had remained throughout American history.

The next speaker, historian Douglas Bradburn, pointed this out in his speech to the day’s special guest.

“All the stories that are a part of you now become American stories,” Bradburn said. “When people ask me what Americans are like, now I can talk about you and your stories.”

“The second side of this is that, now, all of America’s stories, and our history, are your stories. The father of your country is George Washington.”

It turned out that the first president was the next speaker.

When he was introduced, the re-enactor was standing next to a huge draped American flag with a sword sheath on his hip. Then he went on stage, took off his cap in front of the audience and began to speak.

“Today the name ‘American’ belongs to you as much as it belongs to me,” he said. He spoke of their arduous journeys to this point and their stories, now merged with America.

“So, my fellow Americans, to you I say simply: ‘Welcome home.’”

Afterward, Sangare, the U.S. Marine, posed for a portrait, his hands clasped in front of him, holding the American flag fan and his Marine cap slightly askew.

“I just became an American citizen,” he said, his emotions expressed in a sincere smile.

____ Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.