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In his 1916 proclamation urging that the day be set aside to honor Old Glory, then President Woodrow Wilson asked that the nation observe Flag Day with " special patriotic exercises... give significant expression to our thoughtful love of America, our comprehension of the great mission of liberty and justice to which we have devoted ourselves as a people, our pride in the history and our enthusiasm for the political programme of the nation, our determination to make it greater and purer.."
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One of the first to observe Flag Day was Buffalo School teacher Sara Hinson. She taught at Buffalo PS 31 on Emslie Street for several years, was a principal and later served on the Board of Examiners, akin to our modern day school board. It is said that Miss Hinson began Flag Day exercises early in her career. She taught the children to salute the Flag and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance to instill respect for our nation. In 1891 she organized her first flag day to commemorate the date on which the Continental Congress adopted out flag - June 14, 1777. In 1916, President Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day.  Hinson was buried ten years later in Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery, and they have commemorations each year in her honor. |
Other Flag Facts: Betsy Ross, often credited with sewing the nation's first flag, apprenticed not as a seamstress but as an upholsterer, learning to make and repair curtains, bedcovers, tablecloths, rugs, umbrellas and Venetian blinds. Congress officially adopted the Stars and Stripes as the nation's flag on June 14, 1777. The next day, Ross married her second husband, Joseph Ashburn. Her first husband, John Ross, had died during the Revolutionary War, as did Ashburn a few years later. Her third marriage, to John Claypoole, lasted 34 years. The national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," is based on a 15-star, 15-stripe flag sewn by Mary Pickersgill for Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Vermont and Kentucky had recently been added to the original 13 states. The U.S. flag has been modified 26 times since its adoption in 1777. Today's 50-star flag, created in 1960, has been in use the longest. ---Sources: Historic Philadelphia and the Smithsonian Institution |
From The American LegionREAD THE ENTIRE US FLAG CODE
Previous to Flag Day, June 14, 1923 there were no federal or state regulations governing display of the United States Flag. It was on this date that the National Flag Code was adopted by the National Flag Conference which was attended by representatives of the Army and Navy which had evolved their own procedures, and some 66 other national groups. This purpose of providing guidance based on the Army and Navy procedures relating to display and associated questions about the U. S. Flag was adopted by all organizations in attendance.
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TOP TEN FLAG MYTHS
2. A flag that has been used to cover a casket cannot be used for any other proper display purpose.
3. The Flag Code prohibits the display of a United States flag of less than 50 stars.
4. The Flag Code does provide for penalties for violations of any of its provisions.
5. You must destroy the flag when it touches the ground.
6. The Flag Code prohibits the washing or dry-cleaning of the flag.
7. There has been a change to the Flag Code that no longer requires the flag to be properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
8. The mayor, a town official, or the Post Commander can order the flag to be displayed at half-staff.
9. The Flag Code states that when the flag is no longer a fitting emblem for display it is to be disposed of by burning in private.
10. The Flag Code prohibits the “fringing” of the flag. |
Guidelines on displaying 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 napkin 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. (Disposal of Unserviceable Flags Ceremony)
Most every day is Flag Day for Philly seamstresses
Hue Nguyen, 59, of Philadelphia, draws the presidential flag pattern for the fabric workers at the Defense Logistics Agency in Philadelphia. About 10 miles from the house where Betsy Ross is believed to have sewn the first U.S. flag, Nguyen is one of about a dozen seamstresses at a military supply operation who are the sole producers of the hand-stitched presidential banners. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
(AP) Philadelphia- Move over, Betsy Ross. There's a new generation of flag makers in Philadelphia.
Tucked away in a room at a military supply operation, a dozen seamstresses are responsible for hand-embroidering the U.S. presidential flags.
The dark blue standard, emblazoned with an eagle encircled in stars, denotes the presence of the nation's leader. It is often seen near the American flag during presidential speeches and other public appearances.
A quiet sewing room at the Defense Logistics Agency is about 10 miles from the house where Betsy Ross is believed to have sewn the first U.S. flag, and is the only place the banners are made.
Thursday is Flag Day, marking the date in 1777 when Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes.
"I think Betsy would be pretty impressed that what she started has evolved into this 200-some years later," heraldics supervisor Lisa Marie Vivino said.
The supply shop, which also provides the military with equipment, clothing and food, has been producing flags since the 1850s. Production today includes brigade and battalion flags for the armed services, as well as ROTC standards for colleges and high schools - although that job is aided by sewing machines.
Of all the flags, the presidential flag is their "pride and joy," Vivino said. It takes two people, stitching in tandem, about 45 days to finish each one.
It starts with the flag pattern being carefully traced in white pencil onto blue fabric. Then a pair of workers, on opposite sides of a small table, use more than a dozen colors of thread to enliven the image - its shield, an eagle clutching 13 arrows and an olive branch, a circle of 50 stars. The hand-embroidered flag will look the same on both sides.
The colors and shape of the eagle have evolved since the first presidential flag. But the current design has been used by every president since World War II, even though each had the prerogative to change it, Vivino said.
The needle workers meticulously hand make vice presidential flags, too. Those standards have a similar image but on a white background with fewer stars. Edged in basic blue fringe, it takes 30 to 35 days to make them. The presidential flag uses hand-knotted gold and silver fringe, with real gold and silver in the thread, Vivino said.
The busiest times for the seamstresses are just after elections when a new president puts in an order. The Obama administration ordered more than 90, which took about two years to fill, Vivino said.
The standards may be kept in various rooms or sites the president frequents. Presidents also travel with the flags for appearances outside the Beltway; some are given as gifts, Vivino noted.
Today, the women who painstakingly craft each presidential banner say they feel a surge of pride when they see their handiwork displayed on TV behind the nation's most powerful person.
"But I wonder if the president knows where these flags are coming from," seamstress Nereida Rivera said. "I would love to see the president come over here to see us."