Thaindian News

June 14 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Today (Monday) is the 125th celebration of ‘Flag Day’ in the United States of America. On this day, Americans honor ‘National Flag Day’ as a symbol of their patriotism and support of their country. Although the fourth day of July is set aside to celebrate the birthday of the country, it is on June 14th that the country celebrates it’s flag.

The ‘Stars and Stripes’ was first implemented as the official flag of the United States of America on June 14, 1777. It is believed that the observance of ‘Flag Day’ first began on June 14, 1885, when a nineteen year old school teacher, Bernard J. Cigrand placed a small American flag in a bottle on his school desk. He asked his students to write an essay which told of the meaning of the flag.

This teacher is said to have went on to spend many years of his life advocating the observance of the flag and all it stands for. Over the next several years, he gained the support of 36 governors, and five presidents to have a National Flag Day. On June 14, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson named June 14 as National Flag Day. Cigrand was 50 years old at the time, and lived to see his idea come to fruition.

The American Flag is such an integral part of patriotism in the United States, that the US National Anthem is even a song about the flag entitled, “The Star-Spangled Banner”. The lyrics were derived from a poem entitled,”Defence of Fort McHenry” written in 1814 by 35 year old Francis Scott Key, after he saw the carnage at Fort McHenry where the British Royal Navy caused such destruction at Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

The song has four stanzas, with the first one being the stanza which is sang all over the nation, and Key urged for America to take the words, “And this be our motto: In God is our Trust” from the last stanza, and adopt them as a national motto. Thus, in 1956, the words, “In God We Trust” were adopted as the motto of America. The Navy adopted the song in 1889, and was it was made the official National Anthem of the United States on March 3, 1931, by a congressional resolution which was signed by President Hoover.

In the song, Key asks, “O say does that star spangled banner yet wave?” What some may not know was the meaning behind that question. As long as America still stood, and had not been defeated by the British, then the flag would still stand. If the British had won, they would rip the American Flag down. So in the predawn hours after the horrific battle, the only way for one to know if America still stood would be if the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ still waved. And it does, to this day, o’r the land of the free, and the home of the brave.”