BY JOURNAL TIMES STAFF | Posted: Saturday, May 24, 2008 12:00 am
Where can I dispose of badly worn American flags to ensure they're properly destroyed?
As always, the members of the American Legion are glad to be of service.
Most Legion posts conduct a reverent and solemn ceremony once or twice each year in conjunction with a patriotic holiday.
Flag Day, on June 14, is most common, but some posts also dispose of the U.S. Flag on Memorial Day or the Fourth of July.
"What I tell people when they call or write is to contact the local post," said Mike Buss, the American Legion's Assistant Director of Americanism in the ISM Division. "Some of the posts might not be able to do the ceremony because of their size."
Buss, the Legion's self-described "flag guru" who works at the Legion's National Headquarters in Indianapolis, recommends you contact the Wisconsin American Legion Headquarters at (608) 745-1090 to find the post closest to you that disposes of worn American flags.
Racine's Veterans Club, 820 Main St., keeps a flag drop-off box in front of the building. You may also walk inside the building and leave the flag with someone, or just give the flag to any Legionnaire. For those of you on the west end, a drop-box is available outside the Burlington VFW building.
Learn more about the Legion's commitment to honoring our national colors at
http://www.legion.org
Why is the "Star-Spangled Banner" our national anthem?
President Woodrow Wilson ordered it played at all naval and military occasions in 1916, and by 1931 it was our national anthem.
The military drove this issue - they'd played it at functions for decades before Wilson's decree.
We don't know why all involved thought this song - which is ridiculously hard to sing - needed to be our national anthem. Tell us we wouldn't be better off with "America the Beautiful," a song that's actually about this nation and not about one moment in our long and storied history?
Lawyer/poet Francis Scott Key penned the poem that later became our National Anthem during the War of 1812 as he watched the British Navy lob shells at Baltimore's Fort McHenry for 25 hours. The valiant defense of the fort offered by more than 1,000 dedicated Americans inspired him to put words to paper.
Which is fine. But do you know what happened after that?
Those words were set to song - an English song - "Anacreon in Heaven." It was written in about 1775 by John Stafford Smith and was originally the theme song of the Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen's music club in London named after the 6th-century B.C. Greek poet Anacreon.
So you're clear, the national anthem of the greatest nation in the history of the world is a poem about a naval bombardment of Baltimore set to a popular English song of the time.
The original flag that the Brits couldn't knock over or blow up is on display at the Smithsonian Natural Museum of American History. Learn more at
http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/
Why are the flag patches on the sleeves of United States military personnel backward?
On the right shoulder of American military utility uniforms, the canton, which is the flag's blue rectangle, faces to the observer's right and does look backward. The flag appears correct if worn on the left shoulder, because the canton is to always be to the left.
Regardless of what shoulder the flag is stitched, the flag is to always appear as if it is flying against a stiff wind and going forward.
This is a nod to history. Standard-bearers carried the nation's flag into battle, and it always faced forward. Because the military is always moving forward, the flag, when mounted on the right shoulder of a uniform, appears backward.
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