National Flag Day Celebrated in Townsend Montana
Author: Tony Wagner, American Legion Post 42
National Flag Day Celebrated in Townsend Montana
Tony Wagner
American Legion Post 42
It is common practice for Flag Day to be the date for the respectful retirement of unserviceable flags. Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts carry out this duty with the supervision and support of their scoutmasters and the American Legion.
American Legion Auxiliary Chaplain Judy Lund opened the ceremony with a prayer and Janet Wagner, American Legion Finance Officer read about honoring the flag. Two of our local cub scouts then retired the unserviceable flags.
The American Legion has a box in its entryway for collecting unserviceable flags for retirement.
On June 14, 1777, The Continental Congress declared "The flag of the United States shall be of thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen stars of white in a blue field, representing the new constellation." For this reason, June 14th became Flag Day. It should be noted that on the same date, two years earlier, the Continental Congress resolved that six companies from Pennsylvania and two from Maryland be sent to join the militiamen near Boston, and the US Army was born.
The American flag was first carried into battle on September 11, 1777, in the Battle of the Brandywine, but a national observance of our flag was a long time coming.
Bernard J. Cigrand, a schoolteacher in Waubeka, Wisconsin, spent years trying to get Congress to declare June 14 as a national holiday, even though the day was already widely observed. “Father of Flag Day” honors were eventually given to William T. Kerr, who was credited with founding the American Flag Day Association in 1888.
Both President Wilson, in 1916, and President Coolidge, in 1927, issued proclamations asking for June 14 to be observed as National Flag Day. But it wasn’t until August 3, 1949, that Congress approved the national observance, and President Harry Truman signed it into law.
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PhotoCredit: Tony Wagner
Image 1 Caption: Jason Cysewski, Alexander Hoeger, Gage Douglas, Mike Cysewski
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