Flag Day

Flag Day is celebrated on June 14 and celebrates the history of the American Flag.

Here are some interesting facts about the American Flag.

• The celebration of the flag was invented by a teacher. In 1885, a 19-year-old teacher named Bernard J. CiGrand asked his class to write an essay on the symbolism of our flag. He spent the following half-century trying to make Flag Day a national holiday.
• The original flag had 13 stars and 13 stripes.
• Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag.
• There have been 27 versions of the American Flag.
• Red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence and blue represents vigilance, perseverance, and justice.
• The designer of the American flag was Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence as a delegate from New Jersey.
• The current flag was designed by a teenager. In 1958, then-17-year-old Robert G. Heft of Lancaster, Ohio submitted the design in a contest. President Dwight Eisenhower chose Robert's design from over 1,500 other submissions.
• The current flag is the only one to have lasted more than 50 years.
• Flag Day was established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916.
• The final star, for Hawaii, was added in 1960.
• The flag is normally flown from sunrise to sunset.
• The flag should not be flown at night without a light on it.
• The first time the flag was flown after being adopted was on Aug. 3, 1777, in Rome, New York.
• There are six American flags on the moon. Five are standing, but Neil Armstrong's fell over.
• The flag should not be flown in the rain or inclement weather.
• After a tragedy or death, the flag is flown at half staff for 30 days. It's called "half staff" on land, and "half-mast" on a ship.
• When your flag is old and has seen better days, it is time to retire it. Old flags should be burned or buried.
• If you like to study flags, then you are a Vexillologist!
• An American flag should never touch the floor or the ground.
• When displayed on a wall or window the blue field should be in the upper left corner.
• The military folds the flag with 13 folds, each with symbolic meaning.
• 50 flags fly 24 hours a day around the Washington monument.
• 95% of U.S. flags are made in the U.S.A.
• The U.S. flag always flies at the top of a staff above any other flag.

Photo by Cristina Glebova on Unsplash

Southeastern Stamp Expo

Click here for pictures.

This past weekend, my husband and I went to the Southeastern Stamp Expo in Atlanta, GA.

I wish more young people would get involved in collecting stamps because it is so educational. I talked to two people at the American Topical Association who shared with the Stamps Teach program which is a great resource for the classroom. These would be great to use for lessons in language arts, math, social studies, and science. There was also a table labeled Stamp Explorers for young people under 18 to start stamp collecting.

We attended the dedication ceremony for the First Day of Issue for the new Forever Flag stamp.

The Master of Ceremonies was Mary Anne Penner, Director of Stamp Services, for the USPS. The national anthem was sung by Dewaine Johnson and Clarence Johnson who did an outstanding job. Speakers at the ceremony included Jeff Williamson, USPS Chief Human Resources officer and Executive Vice President; Mick Zais, President of the American Philatelic Society and retired Brigidier General of the US Army; and Edwin L. Jackson, Senior Public Service Associate, Emeritus University of Georgia.

The stamp was based on a photo taken by Tom Grill of New City and designed by Greed Breeding of Charlottesville, VA.

The stamp features a billowing Stars and Stripes image.

The first US stamp to feature the US Flag was a 30-cent bi-color of the 1869 pictorial series. Some stamps were printed in error, with one of the colors upside down or inverted. These are some of the rarest stamps of the United States.

It was fun after the ceremony to get everyone involved in the ceremony to autograph our programs.

If you ever get to go to one of these ceremonies, I would high recommend it! If you have been to one, please share.