Happy Flag Day

Today is flag day in the United States.

The holiday was started as a way to commemorate the day on which the Contintental Congress adopted the flag of the United States.  This happened on June 14th in 1777.  June 14th also happens to be the birthday of the United States Army.

In 1916, President Wilson issued a proclamation that June 14th be designated as Flag Day.  It was desginated by an Act of Congress in 1949.  The oldest continuing Flag Day parade was believed to be started in Fairfield, Washington which started in 1909 and has been continued annually since then.  The largest Flag Day parade is believed to be in Troy, New York.

The US Flag has a blue union with white stars.  Each star represents a state of the United States.  There are thirteen stripes of which seven are red and six are white.  These stripes represent the original thirteen colonies.  The flag is also referred to as "Old Glory", "The Star Spangled Banner" or "The Stars and Stripes".  I'm not going to go into the symbolism of the colors as there is some disagreement on that.

There are a number of rules dealing with the display and handling of the flag.  The only one I'm going to cover is that the flag is to be burned in a quiet ceremony when it is seriously frayed or damaged.  And the only reason I'm covering this one is because of the various car flags that I've seen.  When the flag is worn to the point that the union is the only thing left, it's time to get rid of it.

I kind of wish I could have gotten a picture of a flaying flag but this will do.