June 14 is National Flag Day, a day we celebrate one of our beloved national treasures. Stars and Stripes, Old Glory and the Star-Spangled Banner are nicknames given to the flag of the United States, adopted by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.
But it wasn’t until 1949, after Congress approved it and President Harry Truman signed it into law, that Flag Day was officially recognized.
In 1813 (during the War of 1812), Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, in anticipation of an attack on Fort McHenry by the British, asked Mary Young Pickersgill, a seamstress from the city to make a very large flag, “so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance.”
Due to heavy thunderstorms during the battle, a smaller “storm” flag was flown until dawn when the larger flag was raised. It is believed this is the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key, a resident of Terra Rubra in what is now Carroll County, to pen the “Star-Spangled Banner,” now known as the national anthem.
Across the country, veterans groups hold special ceremonies in honor of Flag Day.
Monocacy Valley Memorial Post 6918, together with the Littlestown Boy Scout Troop 501, will host an American Flag Retirement Ceremony on the grounds of the VFW Post, 5801 Conover Road, Harney, on Thursday, June 14, at 6 p.m.
According to the U.S. Flag code, “the flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”
Frank Rauschenberg, a member of the Harney VFW, said: “The ceremony will be a most impressive, but dignified and a solemn event on the grounds of the VFW.”
In advance of the ceremony, drop boxes, hand created by Derek Yingling as part of his Eagle Scout Award project have been placed in the community. Rauschenberg noted that “a drop box for deteriorated American flags has been placed inside the main entrance stairwell to the post.”
Rauschenberg indicated the front entrance would remain open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily for anyone wanting to drop off their used flags. Two additional depositories (crafted by Yingling) are located at Redeemer’s United Church of Christ, 107 E. King Street, Littlestown and the American Legion, 510 E. King Street, Littlestown. The American Legion in Taneytown, located at 9 Broad Street, also has a drop box for the community’s convenience.
Through the years, the flag was passed down and cared for as a family heirloom by Armistead’s widow, Louisa Armistead, her daughter, Georgiana Armistead Appleton, and then her grandson, Eben Appleton.
As for the whereabouts of that original flag that not only inspired a poem but still inspires a nation, it is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., where it has remained on nearly constant public display.
