topic Re: Today is Flag Day in Community Chat

Today is Flag Day

Marp — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 11:58:12 GMT

In 1775, the first American flag, called the Continental colors, was created for our fledgling country. But, it looked too similar to the British flag. So, on June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution that “the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and that “the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.

It wasn't until 1916, that President Woodrow Wilson issued an official decree making June 14th Flag Day. However, some say the original Flag Day occurred in Wisconsin in 1885, and that Bernard J. Cigrand, a school teacher, began the practice of celebrating the flag’s birthday. He assigned his class to write essays about the flag and its significance.

Re: Today is Flag Day

godi — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 12:13:33 GMT

@Marp Thank you for reminding me! I put my flags out right after reading this. 🇺🇸 ❤️

Re: Today is Flag Day

LindaSal — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 13:21:41 GMT

Bless that great, beautiful flag !!!

Re: Today is Flag Day

MamaWick — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 13:28:43 GMT

Both our US and Texas flags fly 24/7 (and yes, they are lit at night).

Re: Today is Flag Day

FlyersGirl — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 13:34:04 GMT

This is played on our local news radio station every flag day.

I am your Flag

Traditionalists say I was born of a woman’s hand — fashioned from bits of colored cloth by a seamstress in a small house in Philadelphia, a year after the new country was born.

Historians are less certain of my origin, and yet no one doubts my existence. I was created out of necessity to serve as the emblem of a people whose experiment in nationhood was as unique as the arrangement of my stars and stripes.

I have proved my adaptability to change. I’ve accommodated growth. I’ve stood up to time and troubles. I fluttered in the fall air with Gen. Washington and his loyal French allies at Yorktown. My fabric was shredded by cannonballs from British frigates in the War of 1812. I was carried in triumph by Andy Jackson at New Orleans. The British could see me clearly in the mists of “dawn’s early light,” waving from the standards at Fort McHenry.

I‘ve witnessed turmoil and bitterness — even lost some of my glory in mid-century in a war between brothers, but I was restored as a nation’s emblem at Appomattox.

I traveled west with the new frontier. I flew from the headlamps of the Iron Horse in Utah. I was with the prospectors at Sutter’s Mill; with the cavalry against cattle rustlers; with the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill.

I crossed the Marne with the doughboys, anxious to make the world safe for democracy. I was with brave GIs storming the beaches at Normandy. I was raised over a shell-pocked hilltop at Iwo Jima, and I stood by the grim-faced negotiators at Panmunjom. I was on that last helicopter from Saigon, and with the men and women of Operation Desert Storm.

I have been around in victory and defeat. I’ve seen pleasure and pain. I was raised over the rubble of the World Trade Center and at the Pentagon. I’ve been folded smartly by soldiers and handed to weeping widows. I’ve covered the coffins of those who’ve served country and community.

I also decorate bandstands and concert halls. I am saluted in parades, in schools, and at ballparks.

I am part of political campaigns, high holidays and ice cream socials. I fly from skyscrapers and bungalows. I’ve been to the moon and the ocean floor.

I am everywhere my people are. I am saluted and, occasionally, scorned. I have been held with pride and I have been ridiculed, because I am everything my people are: proud, angry, happy, sad, vengeful, argumentative, ambitious, indifferent.

I was created to serve a people in struggle and a government in change. There are now more stars in my blue field than there were in the beginning and, if need be, there’s room for more.

But those red and white stripes remain as they’ve always remained: clearly visible through the struggle — the symbol of the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”

I am your past. I am your future. I am your flag.

TAGS:

I Am Your Flag

Bob Nelson

Re: Today is Flag Day

gardenman — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 13:41:54 GMT

Mine, a no-tangle flag (sort of) that I got at the Q many years ago, has been out since sunrise. It'll be out until sunset.

Re: Today is Flag Day

SunSprite — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 13:51:34 GMT

Thanks @Marp , I enjoyed reading that history!

It's also mine and @Laura14 's parents' anniversary.

58 years! And as my Mom said, neither one of them has done the other one in yet

Re: Today is Flag Day

noodleann — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 14:57:50 GMT

So that's the reason for the fireworks around here late last night.

For some reason, I am a stickler about the flag, which is "symbolic speech." It represents the U.S.A. Here is a link to the rules about care and display of Old Glory:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/8

Re: Today is Flag Day

Oznell — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 15:13:18 GMT

Thank you, @Marp . The flag is almost a miracle of design and symbolism coming together. Beautiful!

Re: Today is Flag Day

hckynut — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 22:08:32 GMT

Thank you @Marp

Our flag is on a 30' pole and ours is flying 365/24/7. It is spotlighted at dusk and when it shows fading or tearing from wind and snow, it is replaced.

I served in the US ARMY for a total of 6 years and that taught me more than reading any history or watching a movie could ever do.

Right now it is even more important to emphasize what our flag really meant to many that died defending it, and those that are still doing so. My feelings right now is that our country needs what it stands for more than ever in the last 75+ years.

🇺🇸

hckynut 🇺🇸

Re: Today is Flag Day

golding76 — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 17:25:27 GMT

As I write here every year on Flag Day, on this day I wear the American flag pin my beloved father, an immigrant from Greece who came through Ellis Island in 1916, gave me. This gift is obviously very special to me, as it was for him.

He loved the United States and he wanted me to show my love for my country, too.

Re: Today is Flag Day

suzyQ3 — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 17:30:40 GMT

@golding76 wrote:
As I write here every year on Flag Day, on this day I wear the American flag pin my beloved father, an immigrant from Greece who came through Ellis Island in 1916, gave me. This gift is obviously very special to me, as it was for him.

He loved the United States and he wanted me to show my love for my country, too.

I love that, @golding76

Re: Today is Flag Day

Alter Ego — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 17:51:07 GMT

This is a horrible photo, but I see these two flags every time I return home from work. Depending on which airport I leave from, I pass by them when I return from traveling and they are a very visual reminder that I am home. They bring me peace and happiness.

I really love these two flags.

Re: Today is Flag Day

novamc1 — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 17:51:59 GMT

Sunday is Flag Day
Do you know the flag's history? According to American legend, in June 1776, George Washington commissioned Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress, to create a flag for the new nation in anticipation of a declaration of its independence.

On June 14, 1777, John Adams spoke about the flag at a meeting of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He said, "Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation." There have been twenty-seven official versions of the flag so far; stars have been added to it as states have entered the Union. The current version dates to July 4, 1960, when Hawaii became the 50th state.

On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation establishing a national Flag Day on June 14. Many Americans celebrate Flag Day by displaying the Red, White and Blue in front of homes and businesses. The day commemorates the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States.

Re: Today is Flag Day

Mominohio — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 18:01:32 GMT

I have a friend who's father has passed away, and at a ripe old age, but when she was a child, his birthday was today (Flag Day), and he told his kids for years that all the flags everywhere on display were for his birthday, and wasn't is so nice of everyone to recognize his special day that way, flying all those flags!! LOL

She said they believed him till they were in their teens!

Re: Today is Flag Day

Beth-QVC — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 18:10:17 GMT

This post has been removed by QVC because it is political

Re: Today is Flag Day

Spurt — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 18:20:26 GMT

Re: Today is Flag Day

May5 — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 18:20:52 GMT

To hckynut, why do you only fly the flag 352 days a year and not 365? Just wondering.

Re: Today is Flag Day

desertrat8 — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 18:22:38 GMT

@Mominohio My father used to tell us the same thing and we thought he was really special, which he was of course!!

Re: Today is Flag Day

chiclets — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 19:43:05 GMT

Stand for our Flag.

Salute our Flag.

Never treat it as just a piece of cloth.

Always remember its meaning.

Always remember the sacrifices that were made to see it stand.

Honor it. Honor it for what it stands for and still stands for.

Never do anything, for any reason to disrespect it.

Honor this Country and Honor the Flag of this remarkable nation of ours.