Special day for vet, flag

Arizona Daily Star ^ | 6/13/04 | Rhonda Bodfield Bloom

[SandRat]

The national emblem has pivotal place in life of Tucson man born on Flag Day

C.L. "Stub" Ashcraft and America's flag are racking up another birthday Monday.

Two years before Ashcraft came along in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson established Flag Day, a proclamation that became official in 1949 when President Harry Truman signed an act of Congress designating June 14 as National Flag Day . When Ashcraft was born, the flag, which was adopted by the Continental Congress in 1777, was already 141 years old.

Patriotism and sacrifice started early in Ashcraft's family. Ashcraft's father missed his birth while serving in World War I. An old black-and-white framed photo shows baby C.L. wearing a bonnet with a flag emblem on it.

His birthday cakes, as far back as he can remember, have always sported little toothpick flags in numbers to match his age. Nowadays, he laments, his knees are shot, his back has given up and his cakes have started looking like Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.

But it doesn't stop him from saying the Pledge of Allegiance nearly every day or putting the flag up on designated holidays. "The flag just always meant a lot to me," he said, simply.

Ashcraft - who earned his nickname when a football coach joked that he was "too stubby" to play the game - wanted to be a coach and attended the University of Arizona on a football scholarship. Instead, he ended up being called for active Army duty in 1942.

Every morning, he said, he would go out to the flagpole on base and thank God he was an American.

He had adventures. On a flight to Honolulu, his airplane lost an engine. He survived typhoons. One day, while standing aboard a cruiser in a Philippines gulf, he watched a Japanese plane drop a "fish," or torpedo, into the water, which promptly hit a nearby ship. He narrowly missed being beaned in the head with a piece of shrapnel.

Put in charge of morale, he once traded a jeep to an Australian navy unit for some potatoes and ice and talked the officers into throwing a Christmas Eve and New Year's party for the troops. It was replete with cold beer, hamburgers and french fries - all served by the commanding officers.

Perhaps the most notable memory is of the battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. He vividly recalls the horrifying, but somehow oddly beautiful, scene. He remembers the air shaking from the firepower launched by sea and by air. And he remembers a naval officer standing in a little rowboat, while airplanes strafed the beach, waving a flag in huge arcs overhead.

"To see that guy waving the flag really got me," he said, hitting his chest with a fist, still tearing up at the memory.

He had a variety of jobs after he left the service: director of the Student Union at the university, manager of the old Santa Rita Hotel, manager of the Sunshine Climate Club, which promoted tourism. He ended up back at the UA as the facilities coordinator in the athletic department, where he stayed 17 years. He bought a huge flag to hang in the middle of McKale Center; it has been replaced because of the modern scoreboards.

At every football and basketball game, he would stand at attention, facing the flag, during the national anthem. A plaque given to him by the university shows him with arms rigid at his sides, eyes fixed skyward.

Ashcraft just returned from the unveiling of the World War II Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. He was amazed at the number of people who patted him on the back and thanked him for his service. It drove home to him how times have changed.

When the flag came along in a parade, people universally used to stand at attention, hands over hearts. If it touched the ground, that would be enough to get someone in a fighting mood, he said. The flag was simply a more profound part of people's lives.

He's been a member of the Rotary Club for 53 years. Over that time, he said, he's noticed a decided increase in fidgeting during the Pledge.

He likes to tell a story from his pre-retirement days. At one of the playoff games, he recalled, a high school player sprawled on the field through the anthem. Ashcraft told him twice to get up, to no avail. Afterward, the boy explained that his family didn't stand for the flag. Ashcraft told the boy that if he won the playoff game and came back the next week, he would stand him up by the seat of the pants if he had to. The next week, the boy disappeared during the anthem. Ashcraft later told him, "Son, I'm sorry you don't believe in the flag, but I gave the four best years of my life so you can do your thing."

Still, he said, "I don't expect everybody to feel the way I do." He acknowledges that America has its problems and has been steadily losing international friends. "But my privilege is to be able to say, 'Thanks, America.' "

When he retired in 1983, his university friends asked him what he'd like most as a parting gift. He jokes that, in retrospect, he should have asked for a car. Instead, he asked for a flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol. His old boyhood friend, Congressman Morris "Mo" Udall, procured it for him. It flew on his 65th birthday: June 14, 1983.

World War II veterans are quickly disappearing. Ashcraft set a personal goal to live through 2009, so he can celebrate his 60th wedding anniversary with his wife, Jane. Their union produced four children and six grandchildren, one of whom is attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

When the day comes, he already knows what will accompany him for his last march: strains of patriotic music and his flag.

[SandRat]

Ok Freepers some info on when the flag is supposed to be flown and then a little quiz.

Raise that flag

° It is proper to display the flag from sunrise to sunset on all days the weather permits. If flown at night, it must be illuminated. At a minimum, the flag should be displayed on national holidays and days of importance, including:

New Year's Day

Inauguration Day

Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday

Lincoln's birthday

Washington's birthday

Easter Sunday

Mother's Day

Armed Forces Day

Memorial Day (half staff until noon)

Flag Day

Father's Day

Independence Day

Labor Day

Constitution Day

Columbus Day

Veterans Day

Thanksgiving Day

Christmas Day

Election days

State birthday - in Arizona's case, Statehood Day is Feb. 14, Valentine's Day

Source: Independence Hall Association, a nonprofit group that runs the ushistory.org Web site.

And now the QUIZ for Flag Day

° You can get into all sorts of trouble with flag etiquette, particularly because there really isn't the same emphasis on patriotic displays that there once were. A particularly useful site - www.ushistory.org/ betsy/flagetiq.html - has information on how to properly display, fold and dispose of a flag.

Not sure if you need a brush-up? Take this quiz to test your flag knowledge:

1 Is it ever appropriate to fly the flag upside down?

2 Is this the proper way to hang a flag vertically?

3 What is the proper way to raise and lower a flag at half-staff?

4 If an employee dies, can a company decide to fly the flag at half-mast?

5 What's wrong with this picture?

6 What do you call a flag expert?

7 What is the proper way to dispose of a flag?

8 Is it acceptable to fly the flag 24 hours a day?

Answers

1 Yes. If you are experiencing an emergency and need help.

2 When the flag is displayed in a manner other than by being flown from a staff, it should be displayed flat. The union should be uppermost and to the observer's left.

3 Hoist the flag to the peak, then lower to half-staff. The flag should be raised to the peak again before being lowered.

4 That order is supposed to come from the president or the state governor.

5 It is not appropriate to use the flag as wearing apparel, except that a flag patch is acceptable for military, police and fire uniforms. Lapel pins are acceptable and should be pinned on the left lapel near the heart. The flag should never be written upon, or have any mark, insignia, design, picture or drawing attached to it in any way.

6 Vexillologist

7 Flags are destroyed when they are worn out, typically by burning.

8 Yes, but flags must be illuminated at night.

Source: Independence Hall Association

[SandRat]

Enjoy the article and the surprise.

[SandRat]

Come on over and take the flag quiz in reply #1.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[SAMWolf]

Old Glory Bump

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Tennessee_Bob]

5 What's wrong with this picture?

He's still walking, that's what's wrong.

[windchime]

Bump!

[SandRat]

He's still walking, that's what's wrong.

Your comment reminds me of an Editorial Cartoon from the '60s.

Two Hippies have an American Flag hanging upside down on a stick one holding the stick and the other bending over trying to light it with a cigarette lighter. The voice balloon from the Hippie bent over with another American Flag stitched upside down to the seat of his jeans reads; "Burn Baby Burn! Let's express our Freedom of Speech!"

Off to the side is a construction worker hard - hat, cigar, and all, with the USMC Globe and Anchor tattooed on his arm.

Strapped to his back is a war surplus flame thrower with a tag that says ACME War Surplus. The construction worker has the ignited nozzle pointed right at the bent over Hippies rear end.

The thought balloon for the construction worker reads "Yeah, Me Too Ya Commie Bastard!"

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks, SandRat. (^:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

C.L. "Stub" Ashcraft and America's flag are racking up another birthday Monday.

His birthday cakes, as far back as he can remember, have always sported little toothpick flags in numbers to match his age. Nowadays, he laments, his knees are shot, his back has given up and his cakes have started looking like Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.

But it doesn't stop him from saying the Pledge of Allegiance nearly every day or putting the flag up on designated holidays. "The flag just always meant a lot to me," he said, simply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

~  ~

 

[windchime]

Bump!

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

7 Flags are destroyed when they are worn out, typically by burning.

So more tidbits of information on flag retirements :

1. A flag is not "burned" it is retired by incineration, the ashes are to be sent to a military cemetery to be buried.

2. The Boy Scouts of America are the only nonmilitary organization that is authorized by Congress to retire an American flag.

3. The ceremony is to be done in a respectful manner