Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph –
A tradition with its roots in the 19th century continues today with the nationwide observance of Flag Day.
It's a day to honor the flag of the United States of America, its history and the heritage it represents.
It's also a day to be mindful of the actions that show respect for the flag, the protocol that is part of everyday life for honor guard members.
"What we do every day is respect the flag," Tech. Sgt. Adrena Lewis, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Honor Guard member, said. "It honors those who have died defending our freedom."
Title 4, Chapter 1, of the United States Code, which lists the numerous laws that govern respect for the flag, states it is "universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open," but it can be displayed 24 hours a day as well.
"If it's flown at night, it needs to be illuminated," Lewis said.
The manner in which the flag is raised and lowered is also part of the code.
"The flag needs to be lowered slowly," Lewis said. "When you're raising it, you have to raise it briskly. If the flag is at half-staff and you're bringing it down for the day, it should be raised all the way up, then down."
Likewise, a flag that is raised to half-staff should first be raised to full-staff, then brought down to half-staff, Senior Airman Nicholas Pieper, Randolph Honor Guard lead trainer, said.
The material and size of a flag are also important considerations, Staff Sgt. Clinton Jenkins, Randolph Honor Guard member, said.
"Unless it's all-weather, it needs to be taken down in severe weather," he said.
The condition of the flag dictates replacement and proper disposal. The U.S. code specifies the flag "should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning."
"If it's weathered or torn, you want to change it out," Jenkins said.
One way to dispose of the flag is to take it to organizations such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Boy Scouts of America that provide the service.
The Flag Day tradition dates back to the late 19th century, when Bernard Cigrand, a young teacher at a school in Wisconsin, placed a 10-inch flag in a bottle on his desk on June 14, 1885, and assigned essays on the flag and its significance to commemorate the adoption of the stars and stripes as the flag of the United States that same day in 1777, according to the National Flag Day Foundation.
The teacher's years of effort to turn recognition of the flag into a national event reached fruition when President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation on May 30, 1916, that called for a nationwide observance of Flag Day. Thirty-three years later, President Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress that designated June 14 every year as National Flag Day.
The laws governing the flag that are contained in the U.S. Code can best be summarized by the statement "No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America."
"It's the symbol of the United States of America," Pieper said. "I hold it dear to my heart. I would die for it."