Why Is Commemoration of Flag Day Important?

            The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is the commemoration of Flag Day. June 14^th is considered the birthday of Old Glory. Flag Day in 2020 marks 243 years since the flag was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, to represent our nation. According to a post on Facebook attributed to Tara Ross, this American holiday would not exist without the help of a 19-year-old school- teacher in Wisconsin. 

In 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand was teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in Waubeka, Wisconsin. He’d devised a simple class exercise for his students: They were to write essays about the flag in commemoration of the flag’s birthday on June 14.

Perhaps some of these essays mentioned the reason that June 14 is considered to be the flag’s birthday? It was on this day in 1777 that the Continental Congress first adopted a national flag for the newly declared American nation. Congress has made some changes since then, but the basic design of the flag remains the same: “thirteen stripes, alternate red and white” with a union of “thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” 

Surely Cigrand could not have imagined where this simple class exercise would take him! He would end up spending literally the rest of his life fighting for a national flag holiday.

One year later, in 1886, he wrote an article for a Chicago paper, urging that the flag’s birthday be observed annually. He would eventually author hundreds of articles advocating for the June 14 holiday, and he delivered many speeches. By 1894, he had achieved a public-school celebration of Flag Day in Chicago. More than 300,000 children attended! Many more private and state-level celebrations ensued over the next two decades. 

On May 30, 1916, with World War I looming on the horizon, President Woodrow Wilson formalized something that people were doing on their own anyway. He issued a presidential proclamation declaring that June 14, 1916, would be the first annual national Flag Day celebration. 

“Let us on that day rededicate ourselves,” he wrote, “to the nation, ‘one and inseparable’ from which every thought that is not worthy of our fathers' first vows in independence, liberty, and right shall be excluded . . . .” 

Cigrand unfortunately did not live long enough to see the end of the tale, because he died unexpectedly in 1932. Seventeen years later, President Harry Truman finally signed a congressional act that officially designated June 14 as Flag Day. 

            I found it interesting that President Wilson recognized that the flag stands for unity – “one and inseparable” nation – as well as independence and liberty. This unity is expressed in The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States as we know it today. However, the wording in the Pledge was changed from the original pledge written by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army Officer who later taught patriotism in New York City schools.  Balch’s version of the Pledge of Allegiance was changed by Francis Bellamy in 1892.

The official name of The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted in 1945. The most recent alteration of its wording came on Flag Day in 1954, when the words “under God” were added. …

Designed to be recited with a military-style salute in 15 seconds, Bellamy’s original text reads: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The words “the Flag of the United States” were added on Flag Day 1953 at the first National Flag Conference in Washington, D.C. The words “of America” [and “under God”] were added the next year. Congress officially recognized this wording of the Pledge on June 22, 1942.

            The Pledge of Allegiance as we know it today states: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” I recited this pledge every morning at the beginning of school, but I understand that the pledge has been taken out of many schools today.


            Old Glory is one of the things that unites Americans, so it is little wonder that progressives and socialists want it taken out of the schools. One of the tricks that they play is to divide and then to control. When children and teens are not taught proper respect for the flag, they often end up mistreating it. Most of us have seen pictures of people walking on the flag, burning it, and disrespecting it in numerous other ways, but I was appalled when I saw this picture of the United States flag being used as a mop by government employees.



       Two employees of the U.S. Park Service were caught on June 13, the day before Flag Day, using the flag as a mop to clean bathrooms in a Coney Island bathroom. This is sad behavior for any American but made much worse because the perpetrators work for the national government. Contrast the behavior of the Park Service employees with the people in this article posted by Jeannette Igor on Facebook. I love the flag and flowers, so these pictures caught my eye immediately. This flag is created in flowers, so it will not be flying. However, it is amazing! The creators took great effort to make this flag accurate.

Between the fields where the flag is planted, there are 9+ miles of flower fields that go all the way to the ocean. The flowers are grown by seed companies. It’s a beautiful place, close to Vandenberg AFB.

Check out the dimensions of the flag. The Floral Flag is 740 feet long by 390 feet wide and maintains the proper Flag dimensions, as described in Executive Order #10834.

This Flag is 6.65 acres and is the first Floral Flag to be planted with 5 pointed Stars, comprised of White Larkspur. Each Star is 24 feet in diameter, each stripe is 30 feet wide.

This Flag is estimated to contain more than 400,000 Larkspur plants with 4-5 flower stems each, for a total of more than 2 million flowers.

This beautiful floral flag is proof of the love and devotion of patriots who honor, love, and respect the flag. The fact that it is close to an Air Force Base, where it will be seen often from the air, is a tribute to the military. The results show that someone cared enough about the flag to spend hundreds and thousands of hours in the planning, planting, and caring for the flowers. Imagine what our nation would look like if all Americans loved the flag of the United States as much as this person/company. 

The red, white, and blue of the American flag signifies unity, independence, and freedom. When we honor the flag, we show our willingness to stand together to defend it and the republic for which it stands.