Happy Flag Day! June 14, 2003

6-14-03

[cgk]

The History Of Flag Day

---

The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America's birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as 'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'.

On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.

Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as 'Flag Day', and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.

Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses delivered.

In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association, the first general public school children's celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.

Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: "I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself."

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.

[cgk]

Thank you so much for those valuable links!

[cgk]

Thanks! (i love that picture) ;)

[cgk]

Thank you for that reminder of yet another wonderful patriotic speech!

[kayak]

>





The Star Spangled Banner

Oh, 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 thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, 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!
Oh 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 of their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave'
From the terror of flight and 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.

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

[cgk]

one nation under God (pause)

You're very correct. And ... we are. ;)

[cgk]

Happy Flag Day, and thank you, too!

[Salvation]

Ours is the only country founded on a good idea.
~John Gunther

[cgk]

Thank you for posting the complete song. Something everyone in America should know! One good turn deserves another... ;)

America the Beautiful

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife.
Who more than self the country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America ! America !
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life !
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

[cgk]

[Salvation]

This is a little essay written on Citizenship Day. Enjoy

Perhaps it was my bow tie that gave me away that morning, but somehow the young Asian man laboring over a notebook at my gym's juice bar decided I was the right stranger to look over the paper he was composing. I had just emerged from the locker room, still perspiring from the sauna and having abandoned all hope of symmetrically knotting my bow tie (a recent impulse gift from my wife Julee). I must have looked like an editor. Hurried as I was, his appeal was difficult to dismiss: "Please, sir, just for a minute you look, okay?" Okay.

His written English surpassed his spoken, and I gathered that his paper was in response to an essay question for some sort of citizenship class. Yet it wasn't so much the words as the ideas that caught me. Americans, he opined, should care more about family and less about material things, like cars and product logos. He thought we had too few children because we wanted more money and "lazy time" (I presumed he meant leisure and corrected it). He also noted with considerable displeasure that Hollywood gives an inaccurate depiction of life in this country.

Neighborhoods, he lamented, should be like family "where no one is afraid and everyone helps. All must take responsibility." The tone was more earnest than critical, and ended on a hopeful note, "America is the best place to grow."

I made a few suggestions I hoped were helpful, he was polite and grateful, we shook hands, and I was on my way.
We Americans occasionally give immigrants a rough time, maybe because many of us come from immigrants who had a rough time. I think maybe secretly we worry that newcomers might outdo us natives at being American. But that's good--it's the kind of thing that makes all of us grow. -

Prayer: On this Citizenship Day, thank You, Lord, for a chance to see my country with fresh new eyes--and to grow a little, too.

--Edward Grinnan
Bible References: Mark 4:8 (RSV)

[Salvation]

Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 1 Corinthians 8:9

[cgk]

THE NATIONAL FLAG
Charles Sumner

There is the National Flag.
He must be cold, indeed,
who can look upon its folds rippling in the breeze
without pride of country.
If he be in a foreign land,
the flag is companionship and country itself,
with all its endearment...
The very colors have a language
which was recognized by our fathers;
white is for purity;
red, for valor;
blue, for justice.
And altogether, bunting, stripes, stars, and colors,
blazing in the sky,
make the flag of our country,
to be cherished by all our hearts,
to be upheld by all our hands.

[Salvation]

I AM THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

I am the flag of the United States of America.
My name is Olde Glory.
I fly atop the world's tallest buildings.
I stand watch in America's halls of justice.
I fly majestically over institutions of learning.
I stand guard with power in the world. >br?Look up and see me.

I stand for peace, honor, truth and justice.
I stand for freedom.
I am confident.
I am arrogant.
I am proud.

When I am flown with my fellow banners,
my head is a little higher,
my colors a little truer.

I bow to no one!
I am recognized all over the world.
I am worshipped - I am saluted.
I am loved - I am revered.
I am respected - and I am feared.

I have fought in every battle of every war for more then 200 years.
I was flown at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Shiloh and Appamatox.
I was there at San Juan Hill, the trenches of France,
in the Argonne Forest, Anzio, Rome and the beaches of Normandy, Guam.
Okinawa, Korea and KheSan, Saigon, Vietnam now me,
I was there.
I led my troops,
I was dirty, battleworn and tired,
but my soldiers cheered me
And I was proud.
I have been burned, torn and trampled
on the streets of countries I have helped set free.
It does not hurt, for I am invincible.

I have been soiled upon, burned, torn
and trampled on the streets of my country.
And when it's by those whom I've served in battle - it hurts.
But I shall overcome - for I am strong.

I have slipped the bonds of Earth
and stood watch over the uncharted frontiers of space
from my vantage point on the moon.
I have borne silent witness
to all of America's finest hours.
But my finest hours are yet to come.

When I am torn into strips and used as bandages
for my wounded comrades on the battlefield,
When I am flown at half-mast to honor my soldier,
Or when I lie in the trembling arms of a grieving parent
at the grave of their fallen son or daughter,
I am proud.

MY NAME IS OLDE GLORY
LONG MAY I WAVE.

PLEASE FORWARD MY MESSAGE TO ALL WHO STILL LOVE AND RESPECT ME,
THAT I MAY FLY PROUDLY FOR ANOTHER TWO HUNDRED YEARS.

Pass it on!

[cgk]

Here's a New York Times Editorial on Flag Day, if you can believe it. ;) I don't know when it was written. Not recently, I'd assume.

FLAG DAY
The New York Times Editorial

What’s a flag?  What’s the love of country for which it stands?  Maybe it begins with love of the land itself. It is the fog rolling in with the tide at Eastport, or through the Golden Gate and among the towers of San Francisco.  It is the sun coming up behind the White Mountains, over the Green, throw in a shiny glory on Lake Champlain and above the Adirondacks.  It is the storied Mississippi rolling swift and muddy past St. Louis, rolling past Cairo, pouring down past the levees of New Orleans.  It is lazy noontide in the pines of Carolina, it is a sea of wheat rippling in Western Kansas, it is the San Francisco peaks far north across the glowing nakedness of Arizona, it is the Grand Canyon and a little stream coming down out of a New England ridge, in which are trout.

It is men at work.  It is the storm-tossed fishermen coming into Gloucester and Providence and Astoria.  It is the farmer riding his great machine in the dust of harvest, the dairyman going to the barn before sunrise, the lineman mending the broken wire, the miner drilling for the blast.  It is the servants of fire in the murky splendor of Pittsburgh, between the Allegheny and the Monongahela, the trucks rumbling through the night, the locomotive engineer bringing the train in on time, the pilot in the clouds, the riveter running along the beam a hundred feet in air.  It is the clerk in the office, the housewife doing the dishes and sending the children off to school.  It is the teacher, doctor, and parson tending and helping, body and soul, for small reward.

It is small things remembered, the little corners of the land, the houses, the people that each one loves.  We love our country because there was a little tree on a hill, and grass thereon, and a sweet valley below; because the hurdy-gurdy man came along on a sunny morning in a city street; because a beach or a farm or a lane or a house that might not seem much to others were once, for each of us, made magic.  It is voices that are remembered only, no longer heard.  It is parents, friends, the lazy chat of street and store and office, and the ease of mind that makes life tranquil.  It is summer and winter, rain and sun and storm.  These are flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone, blood of our blood, a lasting part of what we are, each of us and all of us together.

It is stories told.  It is Pilgrims dying in their first dreadful winter.  It is the minuteman standing his ground at Concord Bridge, and dying there.  It is the army in rags, sick, freezing, starving at Valley Forge.  It is the wagons and the men on foot going westward over Cumberland Gap, floating down the great rivers, rolling over the great plains.  It is the settler hacking fiercely at the primeval forest on his new, his own lands.  It is Thoreau at Walden Pond, Lincoln at Cooper Union, and Lee riding home from Appomattox.  It is corruption and disgrace, answered always by men who would not let the flag lie in the dust, who have stood up in every generation to fight for the old ideals and the old rights, at risk of ruin or life itself.

It is a great multitude of people on pilgrimage, common and ordinary people, charged with the usual human failings, yet filled with such a hope as never caught the imaginations and the hearts of any nation on earth before.  The hope of liberty.  The hope of justice.  The hope of a land in which a man can stand straight, without fear, without rancor.

The land and people and the flag – the land a continent, the people of every race, the flag a symbol of what humanity may aspire to when the wars are over and the barriers are down; to these each generation must be dedicated and consecrated anew, to defend with life itself, if need be, but, above all, in friendliness, in hope, in courage, to live for.

[Salvation]

**Here's a New York Times Editorial on Flag Day, if you can believe it. ;) I don't know when it was written. Not recently, I'd assume.**

We should send it to Fox News! LOL!

[Ciexyz]

It's always cool to read through the Declaration of Independence again.

Also a good read -- a book or web site with the bios of the signers of the Declaration.

[cgk]

Also a good read -- a book or web site with the bios of the signers of the Declaration

I agree. I plan on getting one for my daughter when we start homeschooling. (she's 9 months now... it'll be a couple years.) ;)

[cgk]

Great essay - thank you very much for sharing that.

He thought we had too few children because we wanted more money and "lazy time"

How very true, and very sad. I'm glad there was a baby boom after 9-11. People remembering what's REALLY important. The future of this nation.

[Mr. Silverback]

I hope you all will forgive me if I put some stolen goods in this thread. I stole this batch of socialist lies (the original is here if you're curious), changed just a few words and...voila, a tribute to our flag:

The nation's flag is striped with red,
It shrouded oft our martyred dead,
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts blood dyed its every fold.

With heads uncovered swear we all
To bear it onward till we fall;
Come dungeons dark or gallows grim,
This song shall be our parting hymn.

It well recalls the triumphs past,
It gives the hope of peace at last;
The banner bright, the symbol plain,
Of human right and human gain.

So raise that honored standard high!
Within its shade we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep Old Glory flying here.

[TN4Liberty]

Probably the best thing to do is call the American Legion in your area. Many of them have or coordinate retirement ceremonies. More and more Boy Scout Troops are helping out, so they might be able to help you as well.

A private citizen can retire a flag. Protocol is to cut the field of blue away from the rest of the flag, then burn the stripes, then the field of blue. Ashes should be collected and buried in an unmarked location where they will not be disturbed. Hardware (like metal grommets) should be retrieved from the ashes and put into a lake or river where they will not be disturbed.

I think it is great that the country has moved to a point where enough people are flying flags to merit large retirement ceremonies.