Just What Is Flag Day?

Quick, what's today?

If you're not sure the significance of June 14, you're not alone. Flag Day tends to fly under the radar.

The holiday commemorates the adoption of the U.S. flag by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, uniting the newborn nation under one symbol.

While the 1777 Congress specified 13 stripes and 13 stars on a field of blue, it didn’t dictate an exact pattern for the new flag’s star-spangled corner. As a result, there’s some variety among the flag designs of the Revolutionary War era. Historians say Betsy Ross’ circle of stars is probably one of the oldest.

Americans have been celebrating the flag on June 14 since the 1800s, but it wasn’t until 1916 that a President, Woodrow Wilson, proclaimed the day of recognition. Congress officially established June 14 as Flag Day in 1949.

Coming as it does midway between the patriotic holidays of Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, Flag Day is often overlooked. It doesn’t help that it’s not one of the 10 federal holidays – so nobody has off work.

Only in Pennsylvania, home of Betsy Ross, is June 14 a state holiday.

But plenty of groups will be honoring the flag today in recognition of the holiday. Rich Corcoran of in Barnegat said the veterans’ group and local boy scouts take time each Flag Day to retire the flag and raise a new one in its place.

Tonight's ceremony begins at 7 p.m. at the post, 499 Route 9, after which the old flag will be respectfully burned – the proper way to dispose of an American flag no longer in use.

“Most people don’t know about it,” he said of the holiday. “I think we need to get the word out.”

Lowering your own flag tonight, but can't remember from your school days how to properly fold Old Glory? USFlag.org has instructions:

1. Begin by holding the flag waist-high with another person so that its surface is parallel to the ground.
2. Fold the lower half of the stripe section lengthwise over the field of stars, holding the bottom and top edges securely.
3. Fold the flag again lengthwise with the blue field on the outside.
4. Make a triangular fold by bringing the striped corner of the folded edge to meet the open (top) edge of the flag.
5. Turn the outer (end) point inward, parallel to the open edge, to form a second triangle.
6. The triangular folding is continued until the entire length of the flag is folded in this manner.
7. When the flag is completely folded, only a triangular blue field of stars should be visible.