Celebrate Flag Day with WJFD

June 14 each year is Flag Day. It also happens to be the birthday of the U.S. Army, so West Jackson Fire Department stations will fly the Army flag in celebration.

Celebrating the establishment of a singular national flag in 1777, Flag Day is a great time to show your patriotism. It’s also a great time to display other flags, such as military or state flags, to show your pride and support.

We can categorize flags into a few groups: national, state, military, and civilian. Our national and state flags represent our connection to our home and allegiance to the Union of the United States. Each branch of the military also has its own flag. The identification of these flags is made easy with the name of each branch written on its respective flag. This makes flying a military flag a great, and straightforward, way to support veterans and active service members this June.

Civilian flags are made to express a specific viewpoint or support of a group. This can include variations of the national flag, such as the ‘Thin Red Line’ flag that symbolizes support of fire fighters.

How to Display Your Flag

No matter what flags you decide to fly, it’s important to show respect for our national flag code. Unsure how to properly display your flags? Here are some simple guidelines:

·       Keep our national flag at the top of your flag staffs, and any other flag goes below it.

·       If you want to fly the national flag of another country, be sure that it is on a separate staff and that your American flag is of larger or equal size and flown at the same height.

·       If you want to display multiple flags on a wall or stage, be sure that the American flagflag is to the left of any other flags (as the viewer faces). The order is American flag, podium, state flag; another common occurrence is the American flag, Canadian flag, state flag. For example, the left-to-right order as viewed on stage would be American flag, podium, state flag.

·       Be sure to hang your American flag with the union (the blue field with white stars) in the viewer’s top left corner.

Join the West Jackson Fire Department this Flag Day in celebrating our freedom and national union! For more information, visit usa.gov.