Flying Old Glory

If you are moved to patriotism, especially this Memorial Day, and wish to display the Flag,
here are the rules......

Although it's unlikely that anybody will raise a fuss about how you fly the flag, its display and even your conduct regarding it is codified in national law. If you want to read the specifics, see U.S. Code, Title 36, Patriotic Societies and Observances, Chapter 10, Patriotic Customs.

So if you're flying the flag this Memorial Day--rather, if you're displaying it, that's the proper term--it couldn't hurt to display by the rules. Here, then, follows a brief summary of the U.S. Flag Code.

Flag Holidays
Memorial Day is a flag holiday--one of 17 days specifically designated in the code on which citizens are encouraged to display the flag, if they're not in the habit of doing so daily.

Flag holidays are as follows:
1. New Year's Day - Jan. 1
2. Inauguration Day - Jan. 20
3. Lincoln's Birthday - Feb. 12
4. Washington's Birthday - third Monday in February
5. Easter Sunday - (variable)
6. Mother's Day - second Sunday in May
7. Armed Forces Day - third Saturday in May
8. Memorial Day (half-staff until noon) - last Monday in May
9. Flag Day - June 14
10. Independence Day - July 4
11. Labor Day - first Monday in September
12. Constitution Day - Sept. 17
13. Columbus Day - second Monday in October
14. Navy Day - Oct. 27
15. Veterans Day - Nov. 11
16. Thanksgiving Day - fourth Thursday in November
17. Christmas Day - Dec. 25

The code also urges citizens to display the flag on additional days that are proclaimed by the president of the United States, on days that commemorate the date in which their state was admitted to the union and on specific state holidays.

Manner of Display

• The flag should be hoisted briskly at dawn and lowered ceremoniously at dusk. The flag should be displayed at night only if it is lighted dramatically, as from below. To fly the flag at half-staff, raise it briskly to the top of the pole, keep it there for a moment and then lower it to half-staff. Before taking the flag down for the day, return it briefly to the top of the pole.

• The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all-weather flag is used.

• When the flag is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle, the union (the blue rectangle on which stars are embroidered or fastened) should be at the staff's peak, unless the flag is being flown at half-staff.

• When displayed horizontally against a wall the union should be to the left of the observer, looking from the street or in the audience. The same holds when a flag is displayed horizontally in a window. When the flag is displayed vertically against a wall, the union is also to the observer's left. Likewise, when a flag is hung vertically in a window.

• When displayed directly over a street, the flag is hung vertically, and it is centered in the street with the union aligned with the north or east. In a north/south street, this means the flag is hung across the street with the union on the east side of the street. Conversely, on an east/west street, the union is on the north side of the street.

• For visual reference on all of this, visit the American Legion Web site.

Prohibitions

• Never use the flag for advertising purposes, as drapery, linens or as clothing, or print it on items soon to be discarded--napkins and paper plates, for example. It should not be used as part of a uniform--athletic or otherwise, unless you are a member of the military, a patriotic organization, police force, fire department or rescue/ambulance squad.

• Never attach a flag directly to a vehicle or drape it over a vehicle. Instead, the flag should be attached to a staff secured to a vehicle's chassis or to the right front fender. The flag should be displayed on floats in a similar manner. When bunting is used for patriotic display instead of a flag, the colors are arranged from top to bottom: blue, white and red.

• Never display the flag in a manner in which it is easily damaged or with it touching the ground.

• Never display the flag upside down--as this is a distress signal.

In Patriotic Observance
In unabashedly old-fashioned and refreshingly blunt language the code calls on all those present to recognize the flag when it passes as part of a holiday parade:

• Stand.

• Place your right hand over your heart. And in particular, the code says: "Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart." Military personnel in uniform should "render the military salute."