American Flag Etiquette
The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag; manner of delivery
''I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America,
And to the Republic for which it stands,
One Nation under God,
Indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all.''
Should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.
When not in uniform men should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the
left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.
Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag,and render the military salute.
Display and use of flag by civilians; codification of rules and customs; definition
The following codification of existing rules and customs pertaining to the display and use of the flag
of the United States of America is established for the use of such civilians or civilian groups or
organizations as may not be required to conform with regulations promulgated by one or more
executive departments of the Government of the United States. The flag of the United States
for the purpose of this chapter shall be defined according to sections 1 and 2 of this title and
Executive Order 10834 issued pursuant thereto.
Time and occasions for display
(A) It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings
and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired,
the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
(B) The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
(C) The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement,
except when an all weather flag is displayed.
(D) The flag should be displayed on all days, especially on New Year's Day, January 1.
Inauguration Day, January 20. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, the third Monday in January.
Lincoln's Birthday, February 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, September 17. Columbus Day,
second Monday in October. Navy Day, October 27. Veterans Day, November 11. Thanksgiving Day,
fourth Thursday in November. Christmas Day, December 25. and such other days as may be proclaimed
by the President of the United States. the birthdays of States (date of admission). and on State holidays.
(E) The flag should be displayed daily on or near the main administration building of every public institution.
(F) The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on election days.
(G) The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every schoolhouse.
Position and manner of display
The flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags,
should be either on the marching right; that is, the flag's own right, or,
if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line.
(A) The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade except from a staff,
or as provided in subsection (I) of this section.
(B) The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle
or of a railroad train or a boat. When the flag is displayed on a motorcar,
the staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.
(C) No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the same level,
to the right of the flag of the United States of America, except during church
services conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may
be flown above the flag during church services for the personnel of the Navy.
No person shall display the flag of the United Nations or any other national or
international flag equal, above, or in a position of superior prominence or honor to,
or in place of, the flag of the United States at any place within the United States
or any Territory or possession thereof: Provided, That nothing in this section shall
make unlawful the continuance of the practice heretofore followed of displaying
the flag of the United Nations in a position of superior prominence or honor,
and other national flags in positions of equal prominence or honor, with that of
the flag of the United States at the headquarters of the United Nations.
(D) The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with another flag against
a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right, and its staff should
be in front of the staff of the other flag.
(E) The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest
point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies
are grouped and displayed from staffs.
(F) When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same
halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak.
When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should
be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag
of the United States or to the United States flag's right.
(G) When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate
staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size.
International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation
in time of peace.
(H) When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally
or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the flag
should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff.
When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house
to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first,
from the building.
(I) When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost
and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window,
the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left
of the observer in the street.
(J) When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically
with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.
(K) When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should be displayed above
and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium,
the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence,
in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right
as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the
clergyman or speaker or to the right of the audience.
(L) The flag should form a distinctive feature of the ceremony of unveiling a statue or monument,
but it should never be used as the covering for the statue or monument.
(M) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then
lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered
for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only,
then raised to the top of the staff. By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at
half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the
Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event
of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff
according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or
practices not inconsistent with law. In the event of the death of a present or former official
of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the United States,
the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall
be flown at half-staff. The flag shall be flown at half-staff 30 days from the death of the
President or a former President; 10 days from the day of death of the Vice President,
the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the
House of Representatives; from the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice
of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President,
or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the following
day for a Member of Congress. The flag shall be flown at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day,
unless that day is also Armed Forces Day.
As used in this subsection:
(1) The term ''half-staff'' means the position of the flag when
it is one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff.
(2) The term ''executive or military department'' means any agency listed under
sections 101 and 102 of title 5, United States Code.
(3) The term ''Member of Congress'' means a Senator, a Representative, a Delegate,
or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.
(N) When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is at the head
and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch
the ground.
(O) When the flag is suspended across a corridor or lobby in a building with only one main entrance,
it should be suspended vertically with the union of the flag to the observer's left upon entering.
If the building has more than one main entrance, the flag should be suspended vertically near the
center of the corridor or lobby with the union to the north, when entrances are to the east and west
or to the east when entrances are to the north and south. If there are entrances in more than two
directions, the union should be to the east.
Respect for the flag
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America;
the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors,
State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.
(A) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress
in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
(B) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor,
water, or merchandise.
(C) The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
(D) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery.
It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free.
Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle,
and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform,
and for decoration in general.
(E) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit
it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
(F) The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
(G) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark,
insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.
(H) The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying,
or delivering anything.
(I) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever.
It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like,
printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for
temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard
from which the flag is flown.
(J) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform.
However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen,
policemen, and members of patriotic organizations.
The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.
Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.
(K) The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display,
should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.
Suggested Procedures for Disposing of a Faded, Worn Flag,
1. The flag should be folded in its customary manner.
2. It is important that the fire be fairly large and of sufficient intensity
to ensure complete burning of the flag.
3. Place the flag on the fire.
4. The individual(s) can come to attention, salute the flag, recite the Pledge of Allegiance
and have a brief period of silent reflection.
5. After the flag is completely consumed, the fire should then be safely extinguished
and the ashes buried.
6. Please make sure you are conforming to local/state fire codes or ordinances.
Note:
Most American Legion Posts regularly conduct a dignified flag burning ceremony.
Often on Flag Day, June 14th.
Many Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, and Girl Scout Troops retire flags regularly as well.
Contact your local American Legion Hall or Scout Troop to inquire about the availability of this
service.
Conduct during hoisting, lowering or passing of flag
During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in a parade or
in review, all present except those in uniform should face the flag and stand at attention with
the right hand over the heart. Those present in uniform should render the military salute.
When not in uniform, men should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at
the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Aliens should stand at attention.
The salute to the flag in a moving column should be rendered at the moment the flag passes.
Modification of rules and customs by President
Any rule or custom pertaining to the display of the flag of the United States of America,
set forth herein, may be altered, modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect
thereto may be prescribed, by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States,
whenever he deems it to be appropriate or desirable; and any such alteration or additional rule
shall be set forth in a proclamation.
United States of America National Anthem
The National Anthem; manner of delivery
Oh, say can you see,
By the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
Through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there.
O, say, does that
Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave?
~Brief History Of The Star Spangled Banner~
In 1812, America again was at war against England.
The English wanted America to stop trading with the French.
But, after war broke out in 1812 over Britian's attempts to regulate
American shipping and other activities while Britain was at war with France,
all was not calm in Georgetown.
The British had entered the Chesapeake Bay on August 19th, 1814,
and by the evening of the 24th of August, the British had invaded and captured Washington.
They set fire to the Capitol and the White House, the flames visible 40 miles away in Baltimore.
President James Madison, his wife Dolly, and his Cabinet had already fled to a safer location.
Such was their haste to leave that they had had to rip the Stuart portrait of George Washington
from the walls without its frame! A thunderstorm at dawn kept the fires from spreading.
The next day more buildings were burned and again a thunderstorm dampened the fires.
Having done their work the British troops returned to their ships in and around the Chesapeake Bay.
In the days following the attack on Washington, the American forces prepared for the assault
on Baltimore (population 40,000) that they knew would come by both land and sea.
Word soon reached Francis Scott Key that the British had carried off an elderly and much loved
town physician of Upper Marlboro, Dr. William Beanes, and was being held on the British flagship
TONNANT. The townsfolk feared that Dr. Beanes would be hanged. They asked Francis Scott Key for his
help, and he agreed, and arranged to have Col. John Skinner, an American agent for prisoner exchange
to accompany him. On the morning of September 3rd, he and Col. Skinner set sail from Baltimore aboard
a sloop flying a flag of truce approved by President Madison. On the 7th they found and boarded the
TONNANT to confer with Gen. Ross and Adm. Alexander Cochrane.
At first they refused to release Dr. Beanes. But Key and Skinner produced a pouch of letters
written by wounded British prisoners praising the care they were receiving from the Americans,
among them Dr. Beanes. The British officers relented but would not release the three Americans
immediately because they had seen and heard too much of the preparations for the attack on Baltimore.
They were placed under guard, first aboard the H.M.S. Surprise, then onto the sloop and forced
to wait out the battle behind the British fleet.
Now let's go back to the summer of 1813 for a moment. At the star-shaped Fort McHenry,
the commander, Maj. George Armistead, asked for a flag so big that "the British would have no
trouble seeing it from a distance". Two officers, a Commodore and a General, were sent to the
Baltimore home of Mary Young Pickersgill, a "maker of colours," and commisioned the flag.
Mary and her thirteen year old daughter Caroline, working in an upstairs front bedroom,
used 400 yards of best quality wool bunting. They cut 15 stars that measured two feet from point
to point. Eight red and seven white stripes, each two feet wide, were cut. Laying out the material
on the malthouse floor of Claggett's Brewery, a neighborhood establishment, the flag was sewn
together. By August it was finished. It measured 30 by 42 feet and cost $405.90. The Baltimore
Flag House, a museum, now occupies her premises, which were restored in 1953.
At 7 a.m. on the morning of September 13, 1814, the British bombardment began,
and the flag was ready to meet the enemy. The bombardment continued for 25 hours,
the British firing 1,500 bombshells that weighed as much as 220 pounds and carried lighted
fuses that would supposedly cause it to explode when it reached its target.
But they weren't very dependable and often blew up in mid air. From special small boats the
British fired the new Congreve rockets that traced wobbly arcs of red flame across the sky.
The Americans had sunk 22 vessels so a close approach by the British was not possible.
That evening the cannonading stopped, but at about 1 a.m. on the 14th, the British fleet roared
to life, lighting the rainy night sky with grotesque fireworks.
Key, Col. Skinner, and Dr. Beanes watched the battle with apprehension.
They knew that as long as the shelling continued, Fort McHenry had not surrendered.
But, long before daylight there came a sudden and mysterious silence.
What the three Americans did not know was that the British land assault on Baltimore as well
as the naval attack, had been abandoned. Judging Baltimore as being too costly a prize,
the British officers ordered a retreat.
Waiting in the predawn darkness, Key waited for the sight that would end his anxiety;
the joyous sight of Gen. Armistead's great flag blowing in the breeze. When at last daylight came,
the flag was still there! Being an amateur poet and having been so uniquely inspired,
Key began to write on the back of a letter he had in his pocket.
Sailing back to Baltimore he composed more lines and in his lodgings at the Indian
Queen Hotel he finished the poem. Judge J. H. Nicholson, his brother-in-law, took it to a
printer and copies were circulated around Baltimore under the title "Defence of Fort M'Henry".
Two of these copies survived. It was printed in a newspaper for the first time in the Baltimore
Patriot on September 20th,1814, then in papers as far away as Georgia and New Hampshire.
To the verses was added a note "Tune: Anacreon in Heaven." In October a Baltimore actor sang Key's
new song in a public performance and called it "The Star-Spangled Banner".
Immediately popular, it remained just one of several patriotic airs until it was finally adopted
as our national anthem on March 3, 1931.
But the actual words were not included in the legal documents. Key himself had written several
versions with slight variations so discrepancies in the exact wording still occur.
Francis Scott Key, 1814 version
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Birthdays
2010 Monthly Birthdays
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