America’s Flag Day 2021

Along with the United States Army’s birthday, June 14^th is Flag Day.  In dual tribute, then, to the significance and beauty of our national flag, on Memorial Day weekend, at the National Museum of the Mighty 8^th Air Force (Pooler, GA), volunteers planted 26,000 48-star American flags, representing each of the 26,000 Eighth Air Force airmen who perished for the cause of world freedom during World War II.  Providing, no doubt, the largest display of American flags ever produced throughout our nation, and certainly so, with the 48-star version, representing the 48 states in existence during that incredible war to save a world held hostage by militant, tyrant-led, regimes. That flag array was a beautiful site to see on that sun-filled day, as those thousands of glorious American flags were streaming in the gentle, peaceful breeze of a very significant holiday.

America’s national flag was originally proposed and created by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, with the passage of the Flag Act.  The legislation resolved that “the flag of the United States be made of 13 stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be 13 five-pointed stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”  America’s flag originally represented our rebellion against British rule.  Since then, it has proudly and boldly portrayed our nationalism as a dynamic, growing, free, and independent country.  The nation’s flag has gone through many iterations through the decades, each indicating the addition of new states to the union.  The 48-star flag, which flew with and above our troops during World War II, represented our nation longer than any other version before it.  Finally, on July 4, 1960, by order of then-President Dwight Eisenhower, with the addition of Hawaii to the union as our 50^th state (1959), America’s current 50-star flag was born, flying proudly now for 61-years.

America’s flag of red, white, and blue is the most recognized national banner in the world, and generally the most respected, and certainly so, during the administration of Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan, and Trump.  The sight of our nation’s beautiful and distinctive flag, along with the sound of our dynamic and historic ‘Star Spangled Banner’ national anthem, never ceases to generate understandable pride and gratitude among our millions of genuine patriots, who realize fully what each symbolizes for us, from the Revolutionary War to the present day.  That being the incredible sacrifices made by generations of courageous Americans, so that our proud flag could remain freely flying in glory, reflecting liberty and security for our nation, along with justice for many other nations, earned and provided by American bravery and God’s grace, so bountifully bestowed upon this richly-blessed land of grateful citizens, thankful to be here and forever free.