The Stars and Stripes: 230 years later

Letter from the editor

Our nation has more days of observance than I can keep track of, but one day in particular should receive more attention.

June 14 is Flag Day, a day where the symbol of the United States is officially recognized, but this special day - like most - is mostly ignored.

I can remember standing in my small classroom at Cayuse Prairie School and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance while staring at the flag on the wall. For the most part, I had only a vague idea of what was happening. My teacher chose not to give us any of the history of the flag or any reasons as to why we stood up and pledged allegiance to a piece of cloth. But still, I always thought the flag was beautiful, and I understood that American warriors had hoisted her high on many foreign soils.

As I moved up through the school system, we stopped reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Somehow, addressing the flag became taboo, and lunatics around the country wanted it banned from schools and public events because of the line "one nation under God."

I hadn't said the Pledge of Allegiance in years until I went to Portland, Ore., a few weeks ago. Some friends took my wife and me to a comedy show, and the host actually had us stand up and recite the pledge while facing a large flag. I thought it was great - until I heard people in the audience laughing. The comedian meant it as a serious moment, but some people - adults, even - were laughing and messing around.

I was furious. What kind of ungrateful clod can't hold still and show some respect at a symbol that has flown for 230 years? I wanted to punch their lights out.

For the past few days, I've been doing a little research on the flag. Most of the information I already knew, but there were a number of interesting tidbits I wasn't aware of.

The United States flag actually became the nation's symbol while the American Revolution was still in progress. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution stating that "the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes of red and white" and that "the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

The flag, which became known as the "Stars and Stripes" or as "Old Glory," was based on the Grand Union flag, a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes. Popular legend says that Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new flag at the request of General George Washington, but historians have not been able to prove or disprove the tale.

The symbolism of the flag is also debatable. A book about the flag published by the Congress in 1977 states: "The star is a symbol of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial; the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun."

George Washington is quoted as saying: "We take the stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."

Many Americans also believe that the red and white stripes stand for the blood of those who gave their lives for freedom and the purity of the freedom ideal.

The flag has always had strong military connections. During our early wars, the flag was what soldiers looked for to determine where the front lines where. A flag moving forward was a large boost for morale. One of the most famous war photos in history is the raising that took place on Iwo Jima during World War Two.

During the Korean War, the famous - or infamous - Lewis "Chesty" Puller, a Marine Corps officer, once said that the best fighter was a man with a flag in his pack and the desire to put it on an enemy strong point. Puller's response was to an Army Captain who said Marines would rather carry a flag into battle than a weapon.

In fact, our National Anthem was based on seeing the flag flying after a heavy bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland in 1814. Francis Scott Key titled his poem the "Defence of Fort McHenry." The flag that Key saw flying during the bombing was a small "storm flag." When the morning light began to show the fort, the small flag had been replaced with an even larger flag. This sight inspired Key to write down his memorial poem.

In 1814, the flag had grown to 15 stars and 15 stripes. Four years later, Congress decreed that the flag return to 13 stripes and that only stars be added for new states.

Nearly 200 years later, Key's words still ring true:

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream

'Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Happy flag day. Fly her high.