Flag Day
It's a holiday overshadowed by Memorial Day and Independence Day. There are no sales tied to its observance. Nobody dressed as Betsy Ross urges you to come on down and check out the Flag Day specials.
And most people have yet to figure out how to get a three-day weekend out of it.
Still Sunday is Flag Day, made official in 1949 when President Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 as National Flag Day.
According to the National Flag Day Foundation, the observance originated in a one-room school house in Ozaukee County, Wis., in 1885.
There, according to the foundation, Bernard John Cigrand a 19-year-old teacher placed a 10-inch, 38-star flag in an inkwell and had his students write essays on what the flag meant to them.
He called June 14 the flag's birthday.
Cigrand dedicated himself to inspiring not only his students but all Americans in the real meaning of the flag.
For some that means acknowledging those who fought for it.
The Butler County Veterans Services office is marking Flag Day by giving free admission to the Sunday Blue Sox/Chillicothe baseball game at Kelly Automotive Park to the first 300 veterans, with an active duty or retired military ID card.
Ray Tennent, CEO of the Moraine Trails Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said there is no official observance of the day by the council.
“It's really close to Memorial Day,” he said. “Most troops take the old flags off the graves then. They will do a retirement ceremony for the old flags.”
Tennent said most scouts of any rank have some form of flag participation.
“They're taught how to fold the flag, that's worked into the handbook. Part of good citizenship is learning what the flag stands for,” he said.
Butler Elks Lodge 179, 80 Kaufman Drive, will mark the occasion with a 1 p.m. flag ceremony Sunday that will be repeated in Elks lodges across the country.Secretary John Prokopchak said, “We have a Flag Day ritual. We go through the history of the flag. We have actual flags that we display. We present our Americanism Award to the essay winner and present 14 $500 scholarships to high school seniors who have been invited to the ceremony.”The Elks and Flag Day have a long tradition dating back to 1907 when the Grand Lodge designated June 14 as Flag Day. Mandatory observance of the occasion by every lodge was adopted by the Elks in 1911.The Elks said it was through Truman's lodge in Independence, Miss., that the president got the idea for a national observance.
Folding the flag correctly may be a dying skill because it seems most flags never come off their poles.A flag, if it is properly illuminated by night, can remain flying.That's what Butler County has opted to do, said John Campbell, the county's director of facilities and operations.He said four 5-foot-by-8-foot flags: the U.S., state, MIA/POW and county, fly at the courthouse and the 6-by10-foot national and state flags are on poles at the south side of the government center. And they all fly continually until wear or dirt force a change.“We usually change them four times a year, depending on how dirty they get,” said Campbell. “Whenever they start looking dingy, we change them.”He added the flags at the government center undergo more damage from wind and weather and are more likely to be replaced because they become tattered and frayed from the wind.He said the county last bought flags in April when it bought 20 at a cost of $1,800
The dirty or torn flags are taken to a local dry cleaners for cleaning and repair, Campbell said, and the ones that can't be mended are given to West Sunbury American Legion Post 243 for retirement.Members of the post said a flag retirement ceremony is held once a year in September or October when worn flags from across the county are burned in a respectful manner, according to the Flag Code.
The United States Flag Code establishes advisory rules for display and care of the flag of the United States. It is Section 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code. This etiquette is as applied within U.S. jurisdiction. In other countries and places, local etiquette applies.Standards of respect• The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing, unless it is the ensign responding to a salute from a ship of a foreign nation. This tradition comes from the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, where countries were asked to dip their flag to King Edward VII. The American team flag bearer, Ralph Rose, refused, teammate Martin Sheridan famously proclaiming that “this flag dips to no earthly king.” This tradition was codified as early as the 1911 U.S. Army drill regulations.• The flag should never be displayed with the union (the starred blue canton) down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.• The flag should not be used as “wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery,” or for covering a speaker's desk, draping a platform, or for any decoration in general (exception for coffins). Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top.• The flag should never be drawn back or bunched up in any way.• The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.• The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose. It should not be embroidered, printed, or otherwise impressed on such articles as cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins, boxes, or anything intended to be discarded after temporary use. Advertising signs should not be attached to the staff or halyard.• The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, firefighters, police officers, and members of patriotic organizations.• On U.S. military combat uniforms, where the flag is put on the sleeve of the uniform, the flag patch is displayed with the stars facing forward, in the direction the wearer is facing. This is done to give the impression of the flag flowing in the wind while being carried forward across the battlefield. This is known as the “Reverse Field Flag.”
The flag can be displayed on all days, but in particular it should be flown on:✓ New Year's Day, Jan. 1✓ Inauguration Day, Jan. 20✓ Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, third Monday in January✓ Lincoln's Birthday, Feb. 12✓ Washington's Birthday, third Monday in February✓ Easter Sunday (variable)✓ Mother's Day, second Sunday in May✓ Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May✓ Memorial Day (half-staff until noon**), the last Monday in May✓ Flag Day, June 14✓ Independence Day, July 4✓ Labor Day, first Monday in September✓ Constitution Day, Sept. 17✓ Columbus Day, second Monday in October✓ Navy Day, Oct. 27✓ Veterans Day, Nov. 11✓ Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in November✓ Christmas Day, Dec. 25Other days as may be proclaimed by the president of the United StatesThe birthdays of states (date of admission to the union)State holidays** On Memorial Day, the flag should be hung at half-staff until noon, when it should be raised to the top of the staff.— Pearson Education
