Proper American Flag Etiquette

Being married to a US Navy man I thought I was well aware of the right and wrong ways to display the American flag. However, I was researching a little since Memorial day is coming up and there are many things that I was not aware of. I asked my husband about a few of them and sure enough I was actually clueless!! So I decided to share it with ya'll so that you too can be informed. These are only a few snipets from the actual senate bill regarding the American flag ettiquete. If you would like to read more you can go HERE.

The biggest one that I see violated all the time is having the flag illuminated in the dark hours. Honestly, I didn't know about it until I met my husband but I can promise you that our flag is illuminated at night now. :)

Be a good patron and be sure to share the information for we can't fix what we don't know and we wont know if we aren't informed. Knowledge is power!

I also have a fun Memorial Day project I will be sharing soon! :)

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§ 6. Time and Occasions for Display.

a) It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on

buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic

effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly

illuminated during the hours of darkness.

(b) The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.

(c) The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except

when an all-weather flag is displayed.

(d) The flag should be displayed on all days, especially on New Year’s Day,

January 1; Inauguration Day, January 20; Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, the

third Monday in January;

15 Lincoln’s Birthday, February 12; Washington’s

Birthday, third Monday in February; Easter Sunday (variable); Mother’s Day,

second Sunday in May; Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May; Memorial

Day (half-staff until noon), the last Monday in May; Flag Day, June 14;

Independence Day, July 4; Labor Day, first Monday in September; Constitution

Day, September 17; Columbus Day, second Monday in October; Navy Day,

October 27; Veterans Day, November 11; Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday

in November; Christmas Day, December 25; and such other days as may be

proclaimed by the President of the United States; the birthdays of States (date

of admission); and on State holidays.

(e) The flag should be displayed daily on or near the main administration building

of every public institution.

(f) The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on election days.

(g) The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every schoolhouse.

§ 7. Position and Manner of Display.

The flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags, should be

either on the marching right; that is, the flag’s own right, or, if there is a line of other

flags, in front of the center of that line.

(a) The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade except from a staff, or

as provided in subsection (i) of this section.

(b) The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle or

of a railroad train or a boat. When the flag is displayed on a motorcar, the staff

should be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.

(c) No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the same level, to the

right of the flag of the United States of America, except during church services

conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown

above the flag during church services for the personnel of the Navy. No person

shall display the flag of the United Nations or any other national or international

flag equal, above, or in a position of superior prominence or honor to or in place

of the flag of the United States or any Territory or possession thereof: Provided,

That nothing in this section shall make unlawful the continuance of the practice

heretofore followed of displaying the flag of the United Nations in a position of

superior prominence or honor, and other national flags in positions of equal

prominence or honor, with that of the flag of the United States at the

headquarters of the United Nations.

(d) The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with another flag

against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag’s own right,

and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.

(e) The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the

highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or

pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.

(f) When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on

the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be

at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the

United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant

may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the United States flag’s

right.

(g) When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from

separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal

size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that

of another nation in time of peace.

(h) When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting

horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building,

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the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is

at half-staff. When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending

from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted

out, union first, from the building.

(i) When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should

be uppermost and to the flag’s own right, that is, to the observer’s left. When

displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the

union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street.

(j) When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended

vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in

a north and south street.

(k) When used on a speaker’s platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should be

displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a

church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should

hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the

position of honor at the clergyman’s or speaker’s right as he faces the audience.

Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or

speaker or to the right of the audience.

(l) The flag should form a distinctive feature of the ceremony of unveiling a statute

or monument, but it should never be used as the covering for the statute or

monument.

(m) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an

instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again

raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day, the flag

should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the

staff. By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the

death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of

a state, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the

event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be

displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in

accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law. In

the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any

state, territory, or possession of the United States or the death of a member of

the Armed Forces from any State, territory, or possession of the United States,

the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the

National flag shall be flown at half-staff, and the same authority is provided to

the Mayor of the District of Columbia with respect to present or former officials

of the District of Columbia and members of the Armed Forces from the District

of Columbia. When the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, or the

Mayor of the District of Columbia, issues a proclamation under the preceding

sentence that the National flag be flown at half-staff in that State, territory, or

possession or in the District of Columbia because of the death of a member of

the Armed Forces, the National flag flown at any Federal installation or facility

in the area covered by that proclamation shall be flown at half-staff consistent

with that proclamation. The flag shall be flown at half-staff thirty days from the

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death of the President or a former President; ten days from the day of death of

the Vice-President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United

States or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death

until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an

executive or military department, a former Vice-President, or the Governor of

a state, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the following day

for a Member of Congress. The flag shall be flown at half-staff on Peace

Officers Memorial Day, unless that day is also Armed Forces Day. As used in

this subsection —

(1) The term “half-staff” means the position of the flag when it is

one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff;

(2) the term “executive or military department” means any agency

listed under Sections 101 and 102 of Title 5, United States

Code; and

(3) the term “Member of Congress” means a Senator, a

Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from

Puerto Rico.

(n) When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is

at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the

grave or allowed to touch the ground.

(o) When the flag is suspended across a corridor or lobby in a building with only

one main entrance, it should be suspended vertically with the union of the flag

to the observer’s left upon entering. If the building has more than one main

entrance, the flag should be suspended vertically near the center of the corridor

or lobby with the union to the north, when entrances are to the east and west or

to the east when entrances are to the north and south. If there are entrances in

more than two directions, the union should be to the east.