Flag Etiquette

With Armed Forces Day coming up this Saturday and Memorial Day just two weeks away, I've started to see more American flags flying on homes and businesses around town. While I applaud the patriotic spirit that obviously motivates flying the flag, I've seen quite a few breaches of flag etiquette recently.

Flag etiquette?

Yep, there are rules and regulations in place regarding the display of the U.S. flag. Some you are probably aware of, such as don't let the flag touch the ground and when flying multiple flags on one flagpole the U.S. flag always has the highest position. Some rules, however, seem to not have made it into daily use. Did you know that when displaying the flag in a vertical or horizontal manner that the union (the blue field with 50 stars) should be positioned in the upper right as the flag looks out from the wall? In other words, the union should be in the upper left corner as you look at the hanging flag.

Here is a site that explains some of the rules and regulations for displaying the flag that also has some very useful images.

Here is another site that contains excellent flag etiquette information.