In celebration of U S Flag Day, the Richard Henry Lee Chapter (RHLC), Virginia Society, Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) conducted a formal U S Flag retirement ceremony on June 14^th.  With RHLC President, Michael Rhodes, presiding, some 250 flags which were no longer serviceable were destroyed by fire with solemn dignity. 

Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Continental Congress.  The resolution read: “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

At first a new stripe (and star) was added every time a new state was admitted in the Union.  However, by 1818 it was recognized that the addition of one stripe per state would become challenging, so a new resolution was passed that stated the number of stripes would remain 13 for the original colonies, and each state added to the Union would add a star to the canton.

To date, there have been 27 national flags.  The flag has not changed since 1960, when a star was added for the state of Hawaii.

Did you know…

… that a pair of fragments from the original “Star-Spangled Banner flag sold for $ 65,725 in 2011?

… that there have been six American flags planted on the Moon?^[1]

The flag retirement ceremony took place at the Kiser property off of Remo Road in Wicomico Church, Virginia.  On hand were representatives of RHLC, as well as Cobbs Hall and Augustine Warner Chapters of National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR).  Representatives of the Kilmarnock Volunteer Fire Department were on hand as well with one of their brush fire unit trucks.

The unserviceable flags were gathered over the course of the past year from individuals, drop-off locations such as ACE Hardware, and members of SAR and NSDAR Chapters.

^[1] Source: SAR publication entitled “Long May She Wave – History and Etiquette of the American Flag”