Flag Day 2020
In 1885, a little prompting from a school teacher, named Bernard J. Cigrand, led to a United States flag movement. The initiative grew until, in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as the official Flag Day. In 1949, the U.S. Congress permanently established the date as National Flag Day.
The flag consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton (referred to specifically as the “union”) and fifty small, white, five-pointed stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states of the United States of America, and the 13 stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and became the first states in the U.S.
Did you know that our flag has 3 nicknames? Stars and Stripes, Old Glory and Star Spangled Banner. The last nickname was made famous by the national anthem, in 1931. However, the flag inspiring song was first invented by Francis Scott Key, in 1814, which evolved from a Defense of Fort McHenry poem to the adapted tune of The Anacreontic Song. In the 21st century, the national anthem is synonymous with large public events – belted from the lungs of recognizable talent. The lyrics continue to resonate with each generation.
“Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen thro’ the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
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: O, long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov’d homes and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”
National Anthem Videos:
Whitney Houston
Cher
Nashville Children’s Choir
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
https://www.scoutsongs.com/
https://www.britannica.com/
If you are interested in finding out more about American Legion Post 2001, then please email alpost2001@gmail.com. We are accepting new members!
#FlagDay #AshburnAmericanLegionPost2001 #FlagDay2020 #June14FlagDay
