This morning, while I waited for my coffee to brew, I hung my American flag on the pillar of the front porch. As I changed out the pretty bird flag for the flag of the United States of America, my mind wandered back to a memorable Flag Day from my youth. School had just let out, and my parents had already dropped me off at my grandparents' home for an extended stay that always ushered in summer. Uncle Bob and Aunt Sally lived about a block away and they often came over for dinner. On this particular day, Uncle Bob took the opportunity to explain Flag Day to his captivated niece.
He told me that Flag Day was celebrated on June 14 because it was the anniversary of the day the flag was adopted as our national flag in 1777, less than one year after we became a country. At that time, our flag was 13 stripes, alternating red and white and 13 white stars on a field of blue. It wasn't until 1916, that Flag Day was declared by President Woodrow Wilson to be celebrated on June 14.
During the 1950s, when our country had only 48 states, Bob Heft, a high school student from Ohio, designed a 50 star version of the flag. He turned it in to his history teacher and received a B-. Heft was pleased with his design, though, and sent it to his congressman. The congressman shared the design with President Dwight D. Eisenhower who selected this design as the official flag after Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as states. This version of the flag was first raised on the Fourth of July in 1960 and remains the Flag of the United States of America.
I watched Uncle Bob and my grandfather take the flag down and fold it when dinner was finished. Uncle Bob explained that the flag should never be flown in the dark and, since Grandpa didn't have a light that shone on the flag each night, it had to be taken down. I bet if my grandfather had a bird flag, they would have hung such a flag at that time.
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