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July 2, 2004:
Facts
About The Flag
Interview
with Yfat Reiss, editor of the book, The
Care And Display Of The American Flag
Mike
Carruthers:
As many of us prepare to fly the flag for 4th of July you might
be interested to know that there are laws about the flag that
are located in the U.S. Flag Code.
Yfat
Reiss:
The flag today is used as a fashion statement, from
t-shirts to diapers. And as it turns out, all that is not permitted
by the U.S. Flag Code.
Yfat Reiss
editor-in-chief of sharpman.com
and editor of The
Care And Display Of The American Flag says that with the
exception of a lapel pin…
You're
not supposed to wear a flag at all. A flag is supposed to be
kept intact.
Unless you
light up the flag at night, flags should be taken down at sunset.
Your
flag may not touch the ground and if it does touch the ground
your duty is to make sure that it does not become soiled or
torn. If it does become soiled, it must be washed. And if it
does become torn it must be mended. If your flag is torn or
soiled to the point where it is no longer respectful to the
national symbol, well then you must destroy it. And the appropriate
way to do that is the flag burning ceremony.
Why do we
lower the flag to half-staff when a leader dies?
Because
remember all of our flag rules come from rules that helped merchant
marines. And other people would see, that for example that if
a captain passes away, and this is actually originally how this
custom came about, well that ship will fly her flag at half-staff
to indicate a fallen leader.
There's
a link to the sharpman.com
website on ours. I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You
Should Know.
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