Patriotic Americans still fly Old Glory on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and several other dates proclaimed by the President of the United States, the birthdays of states and on state holidays.
In spite of the fact that millions of Americans have died in support of the banner, its continued existence has not been without controversy.
In 1989, in response to a Supreme Court decision which held that a state law prohibiting flag burning under the First Amendment violated free speech rights, Congress enacted the Flag Protection Act. This statute provided that anyone who knowingly desecrates the flag could be fined/or imprisoned for up to one year. However, the highest court in the land in a 1990 decision held that the federal flag Protection Act (Public Law 94-344) likewise violates the First Amendment free speech provisions.
However, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) still lists Ten Guidelines of “How to Display the United States Flag.”
1. The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
2. The flag is never allowed to touch the ground or the floor.
3. When hung over a sidewalk on a rope extending from a building to a pole, the union stars are always away from the building.
4. When vertically hung over the center of the street, the flag always has the union stars to the north in an east/west street, and to the east in a north/south street.
5. The flag of the United States of American 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.
6. The flag should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds but always allowed to fall free.
7. The flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day then raised to the top of the staff.
8. Never fly the flag upside down except as a signal of distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
9. The flag is never flown in inclement weather except when using an all-weather flag.
10. The flag can be flown every day from sunrise to sunset and at night if illuminated properly.
Other restrictions on displaying the flag can be obtained from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. 20420 under the captain “Celebrating America’s Freedoms – Guidelines for Display of the Flag.”
The flag is still a living symbol of freedom and long may it wave in America!
Jerry Summers