posted
Got my U.S.A. flag put out to fly at 6:30 AM this morning. (my uncle down the road and I always have an unspoken contest of seeing who remembers first and gets it out).
quote: Today, June 14, is National Flag Day!
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.
posted
You take it down in inclement weather, right? (Unless it's weatherproof). And take it down at night, unless it's lit up?
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Yeah, that's what I meant by weatherproof and is why I asked. If you have an all-weather flag, then it's exempt from the inclement weather rule.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Huh. I had no idea it was so complicated. I looked up our flag rules too, and they're slightly different but similar. We can fly ours at night though. I can't imagine many people actually take theirs down at night there, do they? And out of curiousity, do people fly flags at half-mast for deaths of non-government people there too (ie. classmates, work colleagues, family members)? Or is it just not mentioned because it's not a rule, and it is a rule for government officials?
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Sometimes certain people/companies/cities can choose to fly at half mast on their own -- even though it isn't really "officially" done unless the Federal government orders it for that day.
But I have known local law enforcement communities to fly a flag at half-mast when a fellow officer was killed here locally - even though that half-mast status wasn't "sanctioned" by the government.
quote:Originally posted by mackillian: You take it down in inclement weather, right? (Unless it's weatherproof). And take it down at night, unless it's lit up?
Yep it's weather proof and I have a spotlight I keep on it every night. I live on a block where about 40% of the houses do the same.
Posts: 514 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Some (not all) of these flag rules I find... a little intense
I don't think so. Most of them are just for respect purposes. But there are a few that aren't so bad if done wrong. When we were in Germany, they had the flag hung on a wall (next to a bunch of other flags) and the stars were on the wrong side. We all noticed, so I guess the rules are branded on our memories pretty thoroughly.
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posted
I thought it was a rule that the flag was lowered for slain officers. People in our area have always done so.
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
No, actually, it isn't a rule. It has become a custom (a good one) but it is still up to the local city and/or state official to say if it can be flown half-mast for that reason. We had a big stink here locally when the governor didn't order it state-wide when a officer was recently killed. Of course, many departments and cities ignored the fact that the governor didn't order it, and did it anyway, out of respect.
posted
The flag rules seem even more intense when you meet a flag-fanatic. You know, the kind of person that not only has all the rules memorized, but exhorts everyone on the subject constantly, and gets in a serious huff when you break even one of the more minor rules.
But really, the rules themselves aren't so bad. I quite like them. I also like the fact that, even though they are not "laws" in the sense that they are enforced or policed by the government, but are merely for informational and traditional purposes, they are still officially "on the books".
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I see a lot of people in my neighbourhood keeping their flags out in all weathers and at all times, even to the point where they become tattered and faded. Now the American flag is not my own, but still it represents a powerful and (by and large) honourable nation; you would think its own citizens would take better care of their symbol. To run a flag into windblown tatters is not patriotism, it's just sheer laziness.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I'm actually on my third flag in the four years. The other two got a bit faded and frayed. I have them folded and stored in my basement workshop. I plan on keeping every one I fly.
Posts: 514 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Kama: um, I don't think it would be legal if I flew a U.S. flag.
Ditto!! But we still have our Israeli one out from Yom HaAtzmaut... my sister put it up, and we were too lazy to take it down.
Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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