Today is Flag Day and to honor Old Glory I am presenting a few facts about flying the flag. Take a trip about the Internet and you will see various lists of flag facts and flag etiquette. The best place to go to make sure you are following the U.S. Flag Code is, of course, the U.S. Flag Code seen here.
1. The only people that can order flags on government buildings to be flown at half staff is the President or Governor of each state.
2. Burning a flag is considered to be the only dignified means of disposing of it once it is no longer serviceable or repairable.
3. If your flag is weather worn or otherwise dirty it is acceptable to wash or dry clean it.
4. If a flag touches the ground you do not have to destroy it. If it is dirty….have it cleaned.
5. The Flag Code does not prohibit any individual from having the flag draped across a coffin. The deceased does not have to be a veteran to have the flag draped on their coffin. The Union or blue field should be at the head and over the left shoulder.
6. When a coffin is draped with the flag it should be removed before the casket is lowered into the grave, and it should not be allowed to touch the ground.
7. When festoons, rosettes, or drapery is desired, bunting of red, white, and blue should be used, but never the flag.
8. Though it is not part of the flag code custom affords the flag a position of superior prominence as part of the audience, in a position of honor at the audience’s right.
9. When flags of other nations are displayed together they should be flown from separate staffs of the same height. They should also be the same size.
10. When the flag is displayed along with state or local flags the U.S. flag should be flown in middle and should be presented higher than the other flags.
11. When the national anthem is played and the flag is not displayed the audience should stand and face the music. If the flag is displayed the audience should stand and salute the flag.
12. When the flag is to be flown at half staff it should raised to full staff briskly and then lowered to half staff slowly. At the end of the day it should be raised again to full staff before finally lowering it to the ground. On Memorial Day the flag should be at half-staff until noon.
13. Typically the Flag is flown from sunrise to sunset. It it is to be flown twenty-four hours a day it should be be illuminated
Meet up with more participants in Thursday Thirteen HERE