Posted on 06/14/2011 5:35:04 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW
Today is Flag Day. I thought it appropriate to give links to proper flag etiquette and a history of Flag Day.
When the flag is displayed from a staff projecting from a window, balcony, or a building, the union should be at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half staff.
When flown with flags of states, communities, or societies on separate flag poles which are of the same height and in a straight line, the flag of the United States is always placed in the position of honor - to its own right. ..The other flags may be smaller but none may be larger. ..No other flag ever should be placed above it. ..The flag of the United States is always the first flag raised and the last to be lowered.
Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day - the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 - was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.
Thank you for posting. I have a torn U.S. flag. I have it wrapped up and placed in a closet. I know I should burn it in a dignified manner but I simply can’t get myself to do it. It just seems “wrong” to me.
I think most fire departments or VFW's have a day that they honor the flag and respectfully dispose of damaged flags.
I didn’t know about some fire departments and VFW’s respectfully dispose of damaged flags. Thank you. Yes, the burning idea just reminded me of people who burn our flag as a sign of disrespect, hatred or aggression. I actually tried once and couldn’t place the flag in the fire. I couldn’t release my grip on the flag. (I know that sounds kooky). I will contact the VFW this week! Thank you!!
I don’t see that as kooky. Conservatives honor their country and flag. I think that’s normal. :-)
Just for the record, the “Bing” search engine has a nice, flag-related theme on their page today. Google has nothing.
Google is a bunch of commie globalists.
Give it to your local vets association ... they regularly burn the old flags with a really neat ceremony, cutting off the stars first, etc. Ask around. I live in a Sun City, our vets here do this ceremony a couple of times a year over at the local fire station. It makes you feel very good about “how” it is done.
Please note the US Army’s birthday: 14 June 1775.
Thank you for the information.
I am the flag of the United States of America.
I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.
There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag.
My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.
Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known.
My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of my country.
My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and the self-sacrifice and devotion of American mothers and daughters.
My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all.
My blue is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith.
I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity.
I embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home.
I typify that indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and by all my forefathers - the Pilgrims, Puritans, settlers at James town and Plymouth.
I am as old as my nation.
I am a living symbol of my nation’s law: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
I voice Abraham Lincoln’s philosophy: “A government of the people, by the people,for the people.”
I stand guard over my nation’s schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true patriotism.
I am displayed in every schoolroom throughout my nation; every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display.
Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country.
I have my own law—Public Law 829, “The Flag Code” - which definitely states my correct use and display for all occasions and situations.
I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14 is set aside to honor my birth.
Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow.
I am your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity.
If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate, if I am nullified and destroyed, you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots.
Eternal vigilance is your price of freedom.
As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that I am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are - no more, no less.
Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth.
Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty.
God grant that I may spend eternity in my “land of the free and the home of the brave” and that I shall ever be known as “Old Glory,” the flag of the United States of America.
Thank you!
Years ago, Johnny Cash came out with a song/spoken words to music called “Ragged Old Flag”. I’ve always enjoyed it and thought I’d share it in this thread:
I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench, an old man was sittin’ there.
I said, “Your old court house is kinda run down,
He said, “Naw, it’ll do for our little town”.
I said, “Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that’s a ragged old flag you got hangin’ on it”.
He said, “Have a seat”, and I sat down,
“Is this the first time you’ve been to our little town”
I said, “I think it is”
He said “I don’t like to brag, but we’re kinda proud of
That Ragged Old Flag
“You see, we got a little hole in that flag there,
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
and It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it,
writing “Say Can You See”
It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & Jackson
tugging at its seams.
and It almost fell at the Alamo
beside the Texas flag,
But she waved on though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville,
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on
That Ragged Old Flag
“On Flanders Field in World War I,
She got a big hole from a Bertha Gun,
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp, and low, a time or two,
She was in Korea, Vietnam, She went where she was sent
by her Uncle Sam.
She waved from our ships upon the briny foam
and now they’ve about quit wavin’ back here at home
in her own good land here She’s been abused,
She’s been burned, dishonored, denied an’ refused,
And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout out the land.
And she’s getting thread bare, and she’s wearin’ thin,
But she’s in good shape, for the shape she’s in.
Cause she’s been through the fire before
and i believe she can take a whole lot more.
“So we raise her up every morning
And we bring her down slow every night,
We don’t let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.
On second thought
I *do* like to brag
Cause I’m mighty proud of
That Ragged Old Flag”
Had both flags seen in the pic-posted at my house until the City came and said I had to remove the junk from our carport as a means to line their pockets by requiring I either remove the stuff we had under the carport(which we were unwilling to do) or enclose the carport so nobody driving by could see anything but the enclosed carport. And the city claims a “use tax” on all building material not purchased (and not available in Fruita) I need a new yella flag -and will get one to post on the new carport. But have added a wooden headed govt. man beside my flag pole and a “lawn sub” to patrol the greenery and raise eyebrows with th ecity dudes who think we are a gated community.
Vets groups, Scouts and fire departments noted.....also, our local senior center accepts old flags.
I wish they would educate the President and his minions— I hear he did not approve of American flags on the border and ordered them removed-and how some of them were tossed on the ground.See Americanborderpatrol.com or call Melissa 520-803-7703 Never seen an American in Office who manifested such disrespect for our flag and for our Constitution and way of life as this man from Kenya.
Thank you for the info. I like the term “retiring”. It seems the mentioned groups make more of a ceremony out of it and I like that. I couldn’t think really of a “dignified burning”. The dirty fireplace? No, not dignified to me. A pit? No, not dignified. I like the idea of a group like Vets or Boy Scouts taking care of this. I’m not passing on my responsibilities. I just couldn’t burn it myself without thinking it was wrong in a sense. Thanks!
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