A4 THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, JUNE 14, 2021
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FLAG FACTS
What
about
Betsy
Ross?
The story that Betsy
Ross sewed the first
American flag was
first told by her family
nearly 100 years later.
Ross is known to have
sewn flags, but there is
no proof she made the
historic one.
By Charles Apple | THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
In honor of Flag Day, here
are eight facts you might not
have known about Old Glory:
1
When Congress established a national flag
of the United States in 1777, it specified 13
stars on a blue field and 13 alternating red
and white stripes.
In 1795, Congress
added two stripes
and two stars to
represent new
states Kentucky
and Vermont.
2
Note how the blue field, or canton,
rests on a white stripe. This had been
a custom among flagmakers long
before laws regulated it.
In 1818, Congress
decreed stars should
be added for each
state but that the
number of stripes
should be capped at 13.
However, Congress never specified how the
stars were to be arranged. Over the next 94
years, flagmakers were left to their own
devices to come up with creative designs.
President William Howard Taft issued an
executive order in 1912 that established a
precise arrangement of the then-48 stars.
GLORY
DAY
3
The second-oldest: The
Netherlands. It’s been in
use since 1572.
4 5 6
By law,
only the
president
or governor
may order a
U.S. flag to
be flown at
half-staff.
Also, the
proper
term is
“half-staff,”
not“
half-mast,”
unless the
flag is
flying on
a ship or
naval
station
onshore.
Students across the country were challenged
by their teachers to come up with a format for
the stars. One such student was 16-year-old
Robert G. Heft of Lancaster, Ohio.
It’s not just
military,
political
or public
safety
veterans
who may
be honored
with a flag
draped
across their
coffin. In
fact, the
flag code
does not
prohibit
the use of
a flag for
the funeral
of any
person.
The huge “Star-
Spangled Banner” that
in 1814 inspired our
national anthem has
15 stars and 15 stripes.
Over the years, pieces
of the flag were given
away as souvenirs, and
one of its stars was cut
out. What happened to
it remains a mystery. You
can see this flag — the
only official American
flag with 15 stripes —
at the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of
American History.
To the
moon
The first flag planted on
the moon, during the
1969 Apollo 11 mission,
traveled there in a case
attached to one leg of
the lunar module to
save space. In all, six
U.S. flags have been left
on the moon. In 2012,
the U.S. space agency
reported that at least
three were still standing,
though all six have
probably been bleached
white by sunlight.
Once
a flag,
always
The U.S. flag is the third oldest flag design still in use.
The oldest: Denmark,
which was adopted in
1219.
As Alaska and Hawaii neared statehood,
President Dwight Eisenhower solicited
opinions from Americans on how to arrange
the stars for the 50-star flag. Thousands of
designs were proposed, many of which are still
on file at the Eisenhower Presidential Library.
This was called
the “war” or
“blood” stripe.
But during times of
war, some flagmakers
rested the canton on
a red stripe.
Where
did the
pieces
go?
The fourth-oldest: France,
adopted in 1790, 13 years
after the United States.
Myth: If a U.S. flag
touches the
ground, it must
be burned. Fact:
The U.S. code
specifies that the
flag should not
touch the ground.
But as long as a
flag is not dirty,
it may be flown.
And there’s
nothing in the
code against
washing a flag.
When the time
comes to dispose
of a flag, how-
ever, burning is
the only option
allowed by law.
7
Flags don’t have an
expiration date. It doesn’t
matter how many stars
or stripes it has: Once a
U.S. flag, always a U.S.
flag. You can fly any
version you like.
QUIZ
Flag Day was
the idea of
Bernard
Cigrand, a
19-year-old
teacher in
Waubeka, Wis.,
who began
giving this date
special notice in
1885. For years,
he lobbied for a
national Flag
Day. President
Woodrow
Wilson
proclaimed the
first Flag Day in
1916. It become
permanent in
1949.
Name
that
state
States have their own
flags. Can you match
these states with their
flags? Answers below.
1. Gulf Coast pelican
feeding three chicks
2. Only state flag that
includes a foreign
country’s flag
3. Two colorful coats of
arms (one of four flags
without blue on it)
4. Only one with a portrait
of a U.S. president
Heft’s teacher, Stanley Pratt, complained that
Robert’s work was “unoriginal” and based too
strongly on the existing 48-star flag. He gave
Robert a B-minus on the assignment. But
Robert passed his design along to his
congressman, and his design was eventually
selected by Eisenhower.
Pratt changed Robert’s grade to an A.
Sources: National Flag Day Foundation, RareFlags.com,
USFlag.org, Halfstaff.org, USHistory.org, Maps of the
World, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library,
Columbus Dispatch, Snopes.com
MAIN IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
8
Astronaut Ed White
was scheduled to
make America’s first
spacewalk on that
mission. Realizing
the historic nature
of the photos that
would be taken, he
and mission
commander Jim
McDivitt paid out of
their own pockets
for flag patches for
their own uniforms.
Recognizing a good
idea, NASA then
made them
standard issue.
Those U.S.
flags on
the
shoulder
of
astronaut
uniforms?
They
weren’t
there until
the
Gemini IV
mission in
1965 —
America’s
eighth
space
flight.
NASA
5. Newest: Magnolia
blossom replaced
Confederate banner in
2021
6. Two-sided, with state
seal on one side
7. Triangular, swallowtail
design (other 49 flags are
rectangles)
8. Large grizzly bear, this
state’s official animal
9. Eight gold stars for the
Big Dipper and North
Star
10. Ancient sun symbol
sacred to native Zia people
QUIZ ANSWERS: 1. Louisiana;
2. Hawaii; 3. Maryland; 4.
Washington; 5. Mississippi; 6.
Oregon (the other side has a
beaver); 7. Ohio; 8. California;
9. Alaska; 10. New Mexico
Compiled for
The Washington Post