and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Today, June 14th is Flag Day. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened 239 years ago on June 14, 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.
This holiday had a very rough start.In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, a man named George Morris persuaded his city of Hartford, Conn., to undertake a patriotic celebration on behalf of the Union. But the concept didn’t catch on, there or elsewhere.
Decades later, in 1885, a 19-year-old Waubeka schoolteacher named Bernard Cigrand plunked a small flag into an inkwell on his desk and assigned his students to write essays on patriotism. Later he traveled the country to promote respect for the flag, becoming president of the American Flag Day Association.
1888, William Kerr, son of a Civil War veteran, founded the American Flag Day Association of Western Pennsylvania, pressing presidents and legislators to make Flag Day official. In his home town of Rennersdale, near Pittsburgh, a historical marker honors Kerr as the “Father of Flag Day.”
In 1889, New York City principal George Bolch had his school hold patriotic ceremonies to observe the day. State officials later expanded the program. In 1893, Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, head of the Colonial Dames of Pennsylvania, worked to have public buildings in Philadelphia display flags – an effort that led one federal office to credit Philadelphia as Flag Day’s original home.
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American Flag 1861 |
Still, Flag Day struggled for official respect. It wasn’t until 1916 that President Woodrow Wilson issued a wishy-washy proclamation to “suggest and request. . . if possible” that people observe Flag Day. Thirty-three years later, in 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed an act passed by Congress naming Flag Day as June14th.
Today Saluting the Flag or even being patriotic seems to some corny or even jingoistic, but when America is challenged we pull together.
In response to the horrific terrorist attack in Orlando, President Obama suggested that Americans had to change. I would suggest it is he who should change. In the face of horror, Old Glory has alway’s been a rallying point for all Americans. It has helped us deal with national tragedies, after 9/11 for example:
It unified the country after the Boston Marathon bombing (for one day everyone cheered the Red Sox):
Old Glory even helps America to celebrate some of her greatest achievements.
Do you believe in miracles ?
Our flag, the symbol of the greatest nation God ever put on this Earth can unite the country especially when Flag Day is only three days after a horrible terrorist attack in Orlando. It will have to unify us and help us deal with our national grief despite the fact that America basically leaderless. But Old Glory has that kind of power.
8. Where was the first flag flown outside the U.S. in a military action? It was first flown over the shores of Tripoli. The Marines were involved in military actions against the Barbary pirates and after they hit the shore, they raised the Stars and Stripes. After the Battle of Derne in 1805, the flag was raised on foreign soil for the first time after a battle.

The Star Spangled Banner: The Flag That Inspired The Nation Anthem
You’re A Grand Old Flag
By George M Cohan
You’re a grand old flag,
You’re a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You’re the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev’ry heart beats true
‘neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there’s never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.
You’re a grand old flag,
You’re a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You’re the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev’ry heart beats true
‘neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there’s never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.