Fly your flag May 18, 2013 – Armed Forces Day

We celebrate Armed Forces Day on May 18, 2013. Fly your flag. Download a copy of the poster here.

Fly your flag Saturday, May 18, for Armed Forces Day.

A bit of history, as we’ve noted earlier:  After President Truman’s administration brought the management of the armed forces under the umbrella of one agency, the Department of Defense, Truman moved also to unite what had been a separate day of honor for each of the branches of the military, into one week capped by one day for all uniformed defense services.

On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department — the Department of Defense. Each of the military leagues and orders was asked to drop sponsorship of its specific service day in order to celebrate the newly announced Armed Forces Day. The Army, Navy and Air Force leagues adopted the newly formed day. The Marine Corps League declined to drop support for Marine Corps Day but supports Armed Forces Day, too.

In a speech announcing the formation of the day, President Truman “praised the work of the military services at home and across the seas” and said, “it is vital to the security of the nation and to the establishment of a desirable peace.” In an excerpt from the Presidential Proclamation of Feb. 27, 1950, Mr. Truman stated:

Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 20, 1950, marks the first combined demonstration by America’s defense team of its progress, under the National Security Act, towards the goal of readiness for any eventuality. It is the first parade of preparedness by the unified forces of our land, sea, and air defense.

Celebrations like Armed Forces Day offer good opportunities to promote history. I suspect that the day’s coming always in the middle of May suppresses some of the teaching moment value, as teachers make a final push for end of course tests, finals, and in high schools, for graduation — and as many colleges are already out for the summer. Good materials are available that can be sprinkled throughout a course.

President Truman and other dignitaries on the reviewing stand during an Armed Forces Day parade, (left… – NARA – 200222 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) (Is that Eisenhower on the left?)

For example, this list of world-wide events at the first Armed Forces Day, in 1950, gives a good picture of four years into the Cold War, and would make a good warm-up exercise or even an entire lesson, or offer opportunities for projects:

The first Armed Forces Day came at a time of increased world tensions, political volatility and communist aggression. Some notable events that marked America’s first Armed Forces Week were as follows:

• Bolivian police broke up “alleged” revolutionary communist-led general strike in LaPaz.
• Two U. S. government buildings in Canton, China were taken over by the Chinese Communist Government. The buildings were U. S. property acquired prior to the Communist takeover.
• The Burmese Army recaptured the city of Prome, a strategic communist-rebel stronghold.
• Nicaraguans elect General Anastasio Somoza to a regular six-year term as president.
• French and West German governments expected to talk shortly on the merger of the coal and steel industries of the two countries.
• Communist China lifted the ban on daylight shipping along the Yangtze River due to the decline of Nationalist air activity.
• Norway receives first US military aid in the form of two Dakota planes.
• U. N. Secretary General Trygive Lie seeks West’s acceptance of Red China in the U. N.
• Iran announced close range news broadcasts to the Soviet Union with $56,000 worth of Voice of America equipment.
• Cuba celebrated the 48th anniversary of the establishment of its republic.
• The Red Cross celebrated its 69th birthday.
• Britain ended rationing of all foods except meats, butter, margarine, and cooking fat.
• The U. S. Congress voted to extend the draft. “A Bill to extend registration and classification for the Draft until June 24, 1952 passed the House 216-11.”
• The Allied Command announced it would “ease” the burden of occupation on Austria and would name civilian high commissioners to replace present military high commissioners.
• Soviet authorities in Berlin withdrew travel passes of the U.S. and British military missions stationed at Potsdam in the Soviet zone of occupation.
• The Soviets returned 23 East German industrial plants to East German authorities. The plants had been producing exclusively for the benefit of reparations to the USSR.
• Twenty-eight Soviet vessels, consisting of tugs, trawlers, and supply ships remained in the English Channel as the Western Alliance prepared for air and naval maneuvers. Observers noted that many of them carried rollers at their sterns for trawling nets although no nets were visible.
• Pravda denounced Armed Forces Day, calling it the militarization of the United States. “The hysterical speeches of the warmongers again show the timeliness of the appeal of the Permanent Committee of Peace Partisans that atomic weapons be forbidden.”
• Western Powers renewed their promise to help Mid-Eastern states resist communism. They also announced an agreement to sell arms to Israel as well as to the Arabs.

Veterans Day honors veterans of wars, and those who served in the past; Memorial Day honors people who died defending the nation; Armed Forces Day honors those men and women serving today.  Service with two wars, in an “all volunteer” military, is a rough go, especially in times of federal budget cuts.  Say a good word about active duty military on Saturday, will you?

A photo from Defense archives, of Armed Forces Day 1952 — also on May 17; DOD caption: QUOTING BENJAMIN FRANKLIN – Servicemen and women comprise this poster, which features cautionary words of Benjamin Franklin. (AFD-1952) [Franklin quote:  Let us beware of being lulled into a dangerous security, and of being weakened by internal contentions and divisions . . . of neglect in military exercises and discipline, and in providing stores of arms and munitions of war, for . . . the expenses required to prevent war are much lighter than those that will, if not prevented, be necessary to maintain it.  Benjamin Franklin, 1784.  Franklin's words were in a letter to Charles Thomson, the Secretary of the 2nd Continental Congress, on May 13, 1784, written from his station in Passy, France.]

 

More:

• Armed Forces Day celebration honor men and women in uniform (qctimes.com)
• Bring All Your Friends This Weekend For The National Armed Forces FreedomRide – Colorado (k99.com)
• Oregon National Guard Celebrates Armed Forces Day At Capitol (albanytribune.com)
• Armed Forces Day celebrated in Del City (newsok.com)
• 13th Annual Armed Forces Day Parade to Honor WWII Veterans (theroanokestar.com)
• Armed Forces Day 2013 (abc2news.com)
• Earlier notes at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub, in 2007, 2008, 2009 and again,  2010 and again, and 2011

Fly your flag today: Armed Forces Day 2011, May 21

Armed Forces Day honors those Americans who are, today, protecting our freedom, under arms, in the U.S. military services.

Veterans Day honors those who protected us in the past.  Memorial Day honors those who died in our nation’s service, and those veterans who have passed on.  Armed Forces Day honors and celebrates living Americans, to whom we owe immediate thanks.

Fly your flag today in their honor.  Today is Armed Forces Day 2011.

The slogan on this year’s poster:  Our Troops, and Those Supporting Them Back Home, Are United in Strength.

2011 Armed Forces Day poster

Previously, in Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub:

• “Honoring heroes:  Armed Forces Day 2007″
• 2008 post
• “Don’t insult the real Tin Hats”
• 2009 post with the official poster
• Flag fly dates

Armed Forces Day 2010 – Fly your flag Saturday, May 15

Armed Forces Day 2010 poster

At the moment the link is down, to download a sharp copy of the poster for printing in gigantic size, but that shouldn’t stop you from planning to fly your flag next Saturday, May 15, for Armed Forces Day.  We honor those men and women currently in uniform serving our nation on the third Saturday in May

Previously, in Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub:

• “Honoring heroes:  Armed Forces Day 2007″
• 2008 post
• “Don’t insult the real Tin Hats”
• 2009 post with the official poster
• Flag fly dates

Armed Forces Day 2009

Speaking of Bill Mauldin and Stars and Stripes, you remembered to fly your flag today, Armed Forces Day, right?

Old Glory, flying

Armed Forces Day 2009 – May 16; fly your flag

Armed Forces Day 2009 poster; click on image to download a high-quality copy

Armed Forces Day is one of the score of dates for which federal law suggests we fly our flags.  Armed Forces Day is the third Saturday in May, every year.

Got events scheduled near your home?  Tell us about them in comments, please.

Armed Forces Day, May 17 – Fly your flag

Flag etiquette reminder: Armed Forces Day is the third Saturday in May, this year on May 17. This is one of the days Congress suggests we should fly our flags. There may be events near your home.

Resources:

• History of Armed Forces Day
• Dates to fly the U.S. flag
• Navy League – Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Council
• Armed Forces Day e-cards from USMemorialDay.com

Honoring heroes: Armed Forces Day 2007

May 19, 2007, is Armed Forces Day. Fly your U.S. and state flags today.

Great Irony: The Defense Department website for Armed Forces Day is not exactly up to date, and suffers from lack of attention (just try to find events in your area from the page set up to do just that).

Which only makes the point: We have to support our troops — heaven knows the current government isn’t going to. Write a letter to the troops; join an event run by your local American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars — or an event to support the troops in a way the American Legion and VFW don’t support, but which is okay, too. Fly your flag. Do the right thing to honor those we send into harm’s way, for little pay and not enough thanks. (That site is much better maintained than the Armed Forces Day site.)

History stuff for classrooms, below the fold.

Lessons of Vietnam: Honor the people who serve

Years ago I feared that many of us learned the wrong lessons from Vietnam, or if we learned the right ones, we weren’t applying what we’d learned.  This was a bit more important in the earlier days of our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.  So I wrote about one of the lessons we needed to improve on:  Honoring the people who serve, regardless our view on the entire engagement.

Someday, perhaps when I’m wiser, I’ll get back to that series on the lessons of Vietnam.

A lot of water flowed under the bridge since then.  A lot of blood flowed, too.

We did better with our two latest engagements, as a nation, in honoring soldiers.  For just one example, DFW Airport set up a special lounge for soldiers returning stateside, and dozens of organizations set up programs to get people out to welcome the soldiers from Iraq with an indoor parade of sorts — Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, groups of retired veterans and other citizens, school social studies classes, and many more.

That still leaves us with the scab of our treatment of veterans from Vietnam.  It’s been good to see cities and organizations make serious efforts to remember them specifically, as well as veterans of Korea-”The-Forgotten-War,” with soldiers and veterans of the modern conflicts.  There is more we need to do, I’m sure.

I ran into this short video from Moments.org.  I don’t know about the rest of that organization’s ministries, but this video got it right:

So, Wes, McClain, Kevin, Ben, Brenda, Steve, Pat, Al, Ken, Ray, David, Jeff and Jon, and all the rest of you who served, especially in or during Vietnam, consider this as one for you.

Tip of the old scrub brush to cmblake6, who probably won’t ever get another one here.  Happily surprised to find something right over there.

More, Resources:

• Letter: Honor veterans of the Vietnam War (knoxnews.com)
• Fallen Vietnam La. soldiers honored with new memorial (wwltv.com)
• Obama welcomes home veterans from Vietnam (mysanantonio.com)
• Aurora veteran organizing statewide welcome home for soldiers (kdvr.com)
• Obama: U.S. wronged Vietnam vets (politico.com)
• Daughter solves mystery of pilot’s Vietnam death – CBS News (cbsnews.com)
• Also at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub: “Popular idea, honor the soldiers, sailors and airmen”
  • “Let Xerox help you thank a soldier”
  • “Lessons of Vietnam, according to David Petraeus“
  • Armed Forces Day posts, posts for and about Veterans Day, posts for and about Memorial Day

Fly your flag today, Memorial Day 2012

U.S. flags wave at DFW National Cemetery, May 30, 2010. Photo by Ed Darrell

Our local Rotary Club provides a U.S. flag planted in your yard for flag-flying events from Memorial Day through Labor Day, for an annual subscription of about $15.00. Local groups, including especially Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts, take a route and plant the flags.

As a consequence, our town is loaded with flags on a weekend like this one.

But even if you don’t subscribe to a flag service, please remember to fly your flag today.

Memorial Day honors people who died in defense of the nation. Armed Forces Day honors those who serve currently, celebrated the third Saturday in May. Veterans Day honors the veterans who returned.

On Memorial Day itself, flags on poles or masts should be flown at half-staff from sunrise to noon. At noon, flags should be raised to full-staff position.

When posting a flag at half-staff, the flag should be raised to the full-staff position first, with vigor, then slowly lowered to half-staff; when retiring a flag posted at half-staff, it should be raised to the full staff position first, with vigor, and then be slowly lowered. Some people attach black streamers to stationary flags, though this is not officially recognized by the U.S. Flag Code.

On Memorial Day, 3:00 p.m. local time is designated as the National Moment of Remembrance.

Memorial Day traditionally came on May 30, but now comes on the last Monday in May.

Flag flies at a home in North Carolina’s Outer Banks

This is mostly an encore post.

Memorial Day 2011 – Please fly your flag to honor our fallen heroes

U.S. flags wave at DFW National Cemetery, May 30, 2010. Photo by Ed Darrell

Our local Rotary Club provides a U.S. flag planted in your yard for flag-flying events from Memorial Day through Labor Day, for an annual subscription of about $15.00. Local groups, including especially Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts, take a route and plant the flags.

As a consequence, our town is loaded with flags on a weekend like this one.

But even if you don’t subscribe to a flag service, please remember to fly your flag today.

Memorial Day honors people who died in defense of the nation. Armed Forces Day honors those who serve currently, celebrated the third Saturday in May. Veterans Day honors the veterans who returned.

On Memorial Day itself, flags on poles or masts should be flown at half-staff from sunrise to noon. At noon, flags should be raised to full-staff position.

When posting a flag at half-staff, the flag should be raised to the full-staff position first, with vigor, then slowly lowered to half-staff; when retiring a flag posted at half-staff, it should be raised to the full staff position first, with vigor, and then be slowly lowered. Some people attach black streamers to stationary flags, though this is not officially recognized by the U.S. Flag Code.

On Memorial Day, 3:00 p.m. local time is designated as the National Moment of Remembrance.

Memorial Day traditionally came on May 30, but now comes on the last Monday in May.  In 2011 the last Monday happens to be May 30, a nice blend of tradition and formal law.

Flag flies at a home in North Carolina's Outer Banks

 

Memorial Day 2010: Fly your flag, study history, honor the dead

(Much of this post is encore material, from Memorial Day 2009.)

Please fly your flag this weekend, and especially Monday, to honor those who gave up their lives in defense of the nation and our freedoms.

Memorial Day, traditionally observed on May 30, now observed the last Monday in May, honors fallen veterans of wars. Traditionally, family members visit the cemetery where loved ones are interred and leave flowers on the grave.

Memorial Day honors people who died in defense of the nation.  Armed Forces Day honors those who serve currently, celebrated  the third Saturday in May.  Veterans Day honors the veterans who returned.

On Memorial Day itself, flags on poles or masts should be flown at half-staff from sunrise to noon. At noon, flags should be raised to full-staff position.

When posting a flag at half-staff, the flag should be raised to the full-staff position first, with vigor, then slowly lowered to half-staff; when retiring a flag posted at half-staff, it should be raised to the full staff position first, with vigor, and then be slowly lowered. Some people attach black streamers to stationary flags, though this is not officially recognized by the U.S. Flag Code.

On Memorial Day, 3:00 p.m. local time is designated as the National Moment of Remembrance.

Got another week of school? Here’s a quiz about the history of Memorial Day that might make a warm-up, provided by Carolyn Abell writing in the Tifton (Georgia) Gazette:

1. Memorial Day was first officially proclaimed by a general officer. His name was: A. Robert E. Lee; B. John A. Logan; C. Douglas MacArthur D. George Washington.

2. The first state to officially recognize Memorial Day was A. Virginia; B. Rhode Island; C. New York; D. Georgia.

3. The use of poppies to commemorate Memorial Day started in A. 1870 B. 1915 C. 1948; D. 1967.

4. The original date of Memorial Day was A. May 30; B. July 4; C. May 28; D. Nov 11.

5. Which U.S. Senator has tried repeatedly to pass legislation that would restore the traditional day of Memorial Day observance? A. John McCain B. Ted Kennedy C. Saxby Chambliss D. Daniel Inouye.

The answers, again provided by the Tifton Gazette:

OK, now for the answers. General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, proclaimed May 30, 1968 as Memorial Day in his General Order Number 11, issued on May 5, 1868. The purpose was to honor the dead from both sides in the War Between the States. Subsequently flowers were placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers in Arlington National Cemetery on May 30 of that year.

New York was the first state to officially recognize the Memorial Day, in 1873. Southern states, though paying tribute to their dead on separate dates, refused to use May 30 as the official date until after World War I, when the holiday was broadened to honor those who died in any war.

In 1915 a woman named Moina Michael, inspired by the poem, “In Flanders Fields,” (by Canadian Colonel John McRae) began wearing red poppies on Memorial Day to honor our nation’s war dead. The tradition grew and even spread to other countries. In 1922 the VFW became the first veterans’ organization to sell the poppies made by disabled veterans as a national effort to raise funds in support of programs for veterans and their dependents. In 1948 the US Post Office issued a red 3-cent stamp honoring Michael for her role in founding the national poppy movement.

As stated above, May 30 was the original Memorial Day. In 1971, with the passage of the national Holiday Act, Congress changed it so that Memorial Day would be celebrated on the last Monday of May. Some citizens feel that turning it into a “three-day weekend” has devalued the importance and significance of this special holiday. In fact, every time a new Congress has convened since 1989, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii has introduced a bill to the Senate calling for the restoration of May 30th as the day to celebrate Memorial Day.

In his 1999 introductory remarks to the bill, Senator Inouye declared:

“Mr. President, in our effort to accommodate many Americans by making the last Monday in May, Memorial Day, we have lost sight of the significance of this day to our nation. Instead of using Memorial Day as a time to honor and reflect on the sacrifices made by Americans in combat, many Americans use the day as a celebration of the beginning of summer. My bill would restore Memorial Day to May 30 and authorize the flag to fly at half mast on that day.

In addition, this legislation would authorize the President to issue a proclamation designating Memorial Day and Veterans Day as days for prayer and ceremonies honoring American veterans. This legislation would help restore the recognition our veterans deserve for the sacrifices they have made on behalf of our nation.” (from the 1999 U.S. Congressional Record).

Other sources:

• Presidential Proclamation for Memorial Day 2010
• Presidential Proclamation and prayer for peace, 2009
• President’s weekly address, “Sacrifice” (video) – 2009
• White House Commission on Remembrance
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs page on Memorial Day
• Today in History, Library of Congress (for May 30) – history of the proclamations during the Civil War is especially good
• Flying the flag at half-staff, U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs
• Half-staff notification from Apex Flags
• Flags Bay article on flying the flag at half-staff
• From the Department of Veterans Affairs, a .pdf booklet on the history and traditions of all patriotic holidays and flag flying involving veterans, Celebrating America’s Freedoms
• Jim Stanley’s Facebook essay on Memorial Day

Image of flag and U.S. Capitol from Flags Bay.

Fly your flag today to honor Americans protecting our freedoms

Armed Forces Day honors those Americans who are, today, protecting our freedom, under arms, in the U.S. military services.

Veterans Day honors those who protected us in the past.  Memorial Day honors those who died in our nation’s service, and those veterans who have passed on.  Armed Forces Day honors and celebrates living Americans, to whom we owe immediate thanks.

Fly your flag today in their honor.  Today is Armed Forces Day.

Armed Forces Day Poster, 2010

Flag flying on the National Day of Prayer?

We’re coming up on four relatively under-appreciated flag-flying dates before Independence Day (July 4):

• 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

President Obama at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - White House photo

I was surprised to see the “fly your flag today” note in the Dallas Morning News today, especially with the accompanying news story. As you can see above, it’s not on the flag-fly list in law.  President Obama’s declaration of the National Day of Prayer doesn’t suggest flying the flag.

We are blessed to live in a Nation that counts freedom of conscience and free exercise of religion among its most fundamental principles, thereby ensuring that all people of goodwill may hold and practice their beliefs according to the dictates of their consciences.  Prayer has been a sustaining way for many Americans of diverse faiths to express their most cherished beliefs, and thus we have long deemed it fitting and proper to publicly recognize the importance of prayer on this day across the Nation.

Let us remember in our thoughts and prayers those suffering from natural disasters in Haiti, Chile, and elsewhere, and the people from those countries and from around the world who have worked tirelessly and selflessly to render aid.  Let us pray for the families of the West Virginia miners, and the people of Poland who so recently and unexpectedly lost many of their beloved leaders.  Let us pray for the safety and success of those who have left home to serve in our Armed Forces, putting their lives at risk in order to make the world a safer place.  As we remember them, let us not forget their families and the substantial sacrifices that they make every day.  Let us remember the unsung heroes who struggle to build their communities, raise their families, and help their neighbors, for they are the wellspring of our greatness.  Finally, let us remember in our thoughts and prayers those people everywhere who join us in the aspiration for a world that is just, peaceful, free, and respectful of the dignity of every human being.

It’s not in the Congressional Resolution that declares the day (see it tucked in there between National Aviation Day and National Defense Transportation Day).

You may fly your flag any day.  But so far as I can tell, we’re not urged by law to fly the flag for prayer day.

In addition to those many worthy things to pray or meditate for on National Prayer Day, pray for a rational solution to the flap over the day.  Since when does anyone need a law to allow them pray?  Who is trying to claim an official flag-flying mantle, and why do they think a right to pray needs such a boost?

More:

• Raleigh News and Observer by way of The Miami Herald
• Kansas City Star
• Editorial in The Christian Science Monitor:  “National Prayer Day:  Does it have a secular purpose?”

Crazy? Don’t insult the real Tin Hats, please!

Okay, we can’t say we’re “Fisking” stuff anymore, since Fisk turned out to be mostly right. And now, we may have to retire all of our clever epithets about tinfoil hats. It’s pretty close to “Tin Hats,” and that tends to especially insult Tin Hats, and especially-especially insult the Memorable Order of the Tin Hats (MOTH).

It’s appropriate, so close to Armed Forces Day (May 17), to do something to help out MOTH, as it is an organization dedicated to preserving the fraternité developed by soldiers. One British soldier, craving to keep hold of that camraderie born of desperation and peril, founded MOTH in Africa in the 1930s.

So, henceforth, we’ll make sure there’s a clear distinction between Tin Hats and the wearers of hats of tinfoil.

How came they to be called Tin Hats? Those helmets, you know — like tin!

Photo: Sculpture of a World War I soldier in a tin hat, from the Montrose, New York, sculpture garden.

Popular idea: Honor the soldiers, sailors and airmen

Interesting. The hottest post on this blog today is the one I wrote about honoring Armed Forces Day — last year! The post for Armed Forces Day this year is up there, too.

One of the lessons of Vietnam is that we need to honor our soldiers who go to defend the nation, even when the wars may be of dubious origin. The dubious origins of war cannot be blamed on the soldiers, sailors and airmen who go to do their duty, and they are the ones who can redeem the nation from a disastrous foreign policy, if anyone can.

Love the serviceman, hate the war. Honor the soldier, work on the politicians to change the policy. It’s a workable arrangement that honors good people for doing noble service.

Remember: Memorial Day honors those who died in service to the country; Veterans Day honors the veterans who came back, having served. Armed Forces Day honors those who serve today.

Fly your flag today.