Old Glory

When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to play a drum in a fife and drum corps, an ensemble that was influenced by the American Revolution in uniform style and song selection. Every Memorial Day we would perform at a memorial service that would begin in the local cemetery and wind up in front of the Topton VFW. Nearby, there was a plaque flanked by two cannons that commemorated all of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and contained the phrase “They Saw a Need.” That memorial has resonated for me all these years because of the courage and commitment contained within those words. Generations of men and women serving in the armed forces have gone on before us exchanging their lives of tranquility for ones of extreme bodily risk in order to uphold their country’s ideals and beliefs, of which the Stars and Stripes are an enduring symbol. Every active or retired armed services member that we encounter today deserves our deepest thanks.

This stretch of the calendar is filled with holidays that heavily incorporate the American flag including not only Memorial Day and Flag Day, but our nation’s birthday, the 4th of July as well. It is a perfect time of the year to reflect on what exactly the Star-Spangled Banner means to all of us. Even with the recent significant breakthrough in the War on Terror, the world can be a dark place where hope can deteriorate quickly. It is therefore reaffirming to think on the ideals of freedom, equality, and justice that were the building blocks of our nation, and what they mean to us today.

This holiday weekend, thank a veteran or active armed services member and honor the memory of those we are no longer able to thank.

Have a super Memorial Day Weekend!

National Flag Week

Yesterday, June 14 was Flag Day, commemorating the adoption of the flag of the United States of America by the Second Continental Congress in 1777. It's part of National Flag Week.

We Americans have been celebrating Flag day since the late 1800s.

Here are some fun flag facts with a few famous, and not so famous, folks:
(Sorry, I couldn't resist the alliteration.)

President Woodrow Wilson first officially proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day in 1916. Then, in August 1949, an Act of Congress established National Flag Day.

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Legend has it that Betsy Ross was a seamstress who often made clothes for George Washington, and that in 1776, he asked her to sew the country's first flag. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Not quite...

USflag.org states that Francis Hopkinson should get the credit for the design of our first flag. A patriot, lawyer and congressman from New Jersey, he was appointed to the Continental Navy Board in 1776 and four years later put forth in writing that he had actually designed the first U.S. flag. Claims by relatives of Betsy Ross, an upholsterer who occasionally did sew flags, that she created the U. S. flag did not appear until one hundred years later.

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After witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to our national anthem. He was said to have been inspired by the sight of our American flag illuminated by the "red glare" of British incendiaries.

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Want to know more? Check these out at the library:

The Care and Display of the American Flag

Woodrow Wilson : A Biography by John Milton Cooper

Betsy Ross and the Making of America by Marla R. Miller

A Grand Old Flag: A History of the United States Through Its Flags by Kevin P. Keim

The Star-Spangled Banner; America the Beautiful CD by Whitney Houston

Flags of our Fathers DVD

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In 1914, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane delivered a Flag Day address in which he quoted the flag as if it had spoken to him directly. He said,

"I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself."