Show proper respect to U.S. flag

  • Published
  • By Maj. Kelli A. Molter
  • Air Force Services Combat Operations Division
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  We mark the 232nd birthday of our nation this week, and proud citizens across the country will display the American flag throughout the Fourth of July weekend as a celebration of our independence -- some of them incorrectly.

Independence Day reminds me of growing up with a proud, passionately patriotic father -- an Army and Berlin Airlift veteran -- who vigorously coached me and my sisters in proper flag handling, including keeping the flag from touching the ground and the consequences of having to burn it should we fall short in that duty. 

This rule has always occurred to me as drastic, so I checked the Federal Flag Code (Public Law 94-344) to corroborate it and discovered it wasn't necessarily so.

What I did find was the following:
-- The flag should never touch anything beneath it such as the ground, floor, or water.
-- 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.

I read on and found more code my dad and others might find surprising and useful --particularly as we display the stars and stripes throughout neighborhoods, parks and parades this weekend. 

Check out these codes here:
-- It is universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flag staffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during hours of darkness.
-- When the flag is displayed from a staff projecting from a 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 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.
-- 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 U.S. flag should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman 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.
-- The flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags, should be either on the marching right (i.e. the flag's own right) or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line.
-- The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade except from a staff.
-- 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.
-- The U.S. flag 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.
-- 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. 

Whether you call it the stars and stripes, old glory or "The Star-Spangled Banner," the flag has protocol that remains consistent and the Federal Flag Code is there to guide us and protect its honor.

To reference the Federal Flag Code in its entirety, visit the State Department Web site at: http://usinfo.state.gov/infousa/life/symbceleb/flagcode.html. 

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