The Flag of the United States. The Star Spangled Banner. The Stars and Stripes. The Red, White and Blue. Old Glory. By any name, the flag is the most treasured symbol of the United States. The flag has been carried into every battle of every war for 240 years: Valley Forge, Fort McHenry, Gettysburg, San Juan Hill, the trenches of France during World War I, the beaches of Normandy, Okinawa, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, and places in between. She flies proudly from the top of the U.S. Capitol, over our cities, our farms, and like the song says, “from sea to shining sea.”

On Thursday, June 14, we celebrate Flag Day to commemorate the adoption of the first flag on June 14, 1777. That flag had thirteen stars representing the 13 original states. The current flag with 50 stars was adopted in 1960. The flag has always had thirteen red and white stripes representing the 13 original states.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day but it wasn’t until August 1949, that National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. Flag Day is designated for Americans to pay tribute to the flag and the republic for which it stands.

Flag Day is also a good day to appropriately lay tattered flags to rest. According the U.S. Flag Code, the most common method is burning the torn or tattered flag in a special ceremony. On June 14 at 10:00 a.m., the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Veterans of Foreign Wars will conduct a flag retirement ceremony. The public is invited to attend the ceremony and bring flags that need to be disposed of properly. The ceremony will take place at the VFW lodge on Fifth Avenue Southeast.

DAR is dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing American’s future through better education for children. We hope you will join with us in celebrating our flag – every day. Long may she wave “o’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.”

Sonja Thompson, U.S. Flag Chair

John Benning Chapter

National Society Daughters of the American Revolution