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Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,004
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Today is Flag Day

[ Edited ]

 

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.

 

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.0pLCWNbZ4-9LACYj4zuKfQHaF7%26pid%3DApi&f=1

             https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.WbawKIQazvU78w1AUdwgfgHaEq%26pid%3DApi&f=1

The eyes through which you see others may be the same as how they see you.
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,602
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

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

Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,569
Registered: ‎05-15-2014

Bless that great, beautiful flag !!!

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,685
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

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

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness ~ Dalai Lama XIV

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace ~ Jimi Hendrix
Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,730
Registered: ‎03-13-2010

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.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,250
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

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. 

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Valued Contributor
Posts: 884
Registered: ‎10-21-2019

Re: Today is Flag Day

[ Edited ]

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 Smiley Very Happy

Whatever gets you through the night; it's alright, it's alright. It's your money or your life; it's alright, it's alright---John Lennon
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Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,458
Registered: ‎06-10-2015

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

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,991
Registered: ‎11-08-2014

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

Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,913
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Today is Flag Day

[ Edited ]

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 🇺🇸

hckynut(john)