The Origins of Veterans Day 

2006 Veterans Day Poster

In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National 

Cemetery. This site, on a hillside overlooking the Potomac River and the city of 

Washington, D.C., became the focal point of reverence for America’s veterans. 

Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier 

was buried in each nation’s highest place of honor (in England, Westminster Abbey; in 

France, the Arc de Triomphe). These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, 

giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting at 11 a.m., 

November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). The day became 

known as “Armistice Day.” 

Armistice Day officially received its name in America in 1926 through a Congressional 

resolution. It became a national holiday 12 years later by similar Congressional action. If 

the idealistic hope had been realized that World War I was “the War to end all wars,” 

November 11 might still be called Armistice Day. But only a few years after the holiday 

was proclaimed, war broke out in Europe. Sixteen and one-half million Americans took 

part. Four hundred seven thousand of them died in service, more than 292,000 in battle. 

Armistice Day Changed To Honor All Veterans 

The first celebration using the term Veterans Day occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, in 

1947. Raymond Weeks, a World War II veteran, organized "National Veterans Day," 

which included a parade and other festivities, to honor all veterans. The event was held 

on November 11, then designated Armistice Day. Later, U.S. Representative Edward 
Rees of Kansas proposed a bill that would change Armistice Day to Veterans Day. In 

1954, Congress passed the bill that President Eisenhower signed proclaiming 

November 11 as Veterans Day. Raymond Weeks received the Presidential Citizens 

Medal from President Reagan in November 1982. Weeks' local parade and ceremonies 

are now an annual event celebrated nationwide. 

On Memorial Day 1958, two more unidentified American war dead were brought from 

overseas and interred in the plaza beside the unknown soldier of World War I. One was 

killed in World War II, the other in the Korean War. In 1984, an unknown serviceman 

from the Vietnam War was placed alongside the others. The remains from Vietnam 

were exhumed May 14, 1998, identified as Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, 

and removed for burial. To honor these men, symbolic of all Americans who gave their 

lives in all wars, an Army honor guard, the 3rd U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard), keeps day 

and night vigil. 

A law passed in 1968 changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the 

fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a 

date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned 

the observance to its traditional date. 

National Ceremonies Held at Arlington National Cemetery 

The focal point for official, national ceremonies for Veterans Day continues to be the 

memorial amphitheater built around the Tomb of the Unknowns. At 11 a.m. on 

November 11, a combined color guard representing all military services executes 

“Present Arms” at the tomb. The nation’s tribute to its war dead is symbolized by the 

laying of a presidential wreath. The bugler plays “taps.” The rest of the ceremony takes 

place in the amphitheater. 

Veterans Day ceremonies at Arlington and elsewhere are coordinated by the 

President’s Veterans Day National Committee. Chaired by the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs, the committee represents national veterans organizations. 

Governors of many states and U.S. territories appoint Veterans Day chairpersons who, 

in cooperation with the National Committee and the Department of Defense, arrange 

and promote local ceremonies. 

Additional Information 

Additional information on the history of Veterans Day, the Veterans Day National 

Committee, the national ceremony, a gallery of Veterans Day posters from 1978 to the 

present and a colorful and informative Veterans Day Teacher’s Resource Guide can be 

found on the Internet at 

http://www.va.gov/vetsday/
 

Activities for Veterans Day 

Visit http://www.va.gov/vetsday/ on the Internet 

for additional Veterans Day information for teachers and students

Veterans Day is an excellent occasion for schools and local communities to produce a 

variety of meaningful cooperative programs. Participation by veterans organizations and 

other patriotic groups can enhance many of the activities suggested in this guide. 

1. Veterans Day Ceremony 

Depending on the facilities available, an indoor assembly program can provide a most 

meaningful tribute to Veterans Day. The scope of such a program may be large enough 

to permit invitations to the community at large. This ceremony outline represents a 

typical one-hour program. 

Prelude and Posting of Colors — As the audience enters to be seated, a school or 

community musical organization may offer several appropriate selections. A 

procession and posting of the Nation's colors (the American Flag) is always a stirring 

event. Local veterans service organizations often participate in such programs with 

their impressive array of military banners and American flags. 

Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and Singing of the National Anthem — The 

program chairperson, school principal or student body president should invite the 

audience to stand and join in the Pledge of Allegiance and singing of the National 

Anthem. 
Introductory Remarks — Brief introductory remarks set the tone for the program. 

The following remarks may be used or, if desired, the President’s Veterans Day 

Proclamation, which the White House posts on the Internet shortly before Veterans 

Day at http://www.whitehouse.gov, may be read. 

When Francis Scott Key wrote the “Star Spangled Banner” almost 200 years 

ago, he called America, “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” 

Those words are as true today as they were then. 

Throughout this Nation’s history, America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines 

and coastguardsmen have bravely answered the call to defend our freedom, 

to aid our friends and allies, and to turn back aggressors. 

We can never fully repay our debt of gratitude to the more than 650,000 

American servicemembers who died in battle or the 1.4 million who were 

wounded. We can, however, recognize and thank the 25 million veterans still 

living today. 

These words are inscribed on the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C.: 

“Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend 

a country they never knew and a people they never met.” 

Those words apply equally to many of our World War I, World War II, Vietnam 

War and Gulf War veterans as well. They apply to today’s active duty 

servicemembers — tomorrow’s veterans — who are helping to maintain 

peace throughout the world. 

Today, it is our privilege to say “thank you” to all of America’s veterans, to let 

them know that we appreciate them for their service and honor them for their 

sacrifices. 

The price of freedom is high. We cannot afford to forget those willing to pay it. 

Today, we celebrate America’s veterans for keeping this Nation “the land of 

the free and the home of the brave.” 

Special Musical Selection — A band or choral group should offer one of the more 

impressive patriotic selections available. 

Introduction of Guests — Dignitaries selected as special guests may include local 

government officials, school alumni with distinguished military service, veterans from 

the community who represent different periods of service, and faculty members who 

are veterans. 

Principal Speaker — Your principal speaker should be invited far enough in 

advance to allow adequate preparation for your program. 
Student Essay or Reading — In school programs, student body participation may 

be increased by including in the program various presentations by individual pupils. 

Selected essays from school-wide competition may be offered by the student author. 

A reading of a well-known patriotic address by an American president or famous 

military hero by a talented student can be effective. There are a number of published 

musicals/narratives which could add greatly to your program. 

Moment of Silence, Taps — While Veterans Day is primarily a tribute to America’s 

living veterans, and should be observed more as a celebration than as a somber 

remembrance, it is always appropriate to include a moment of respect for those who 

gave their lives for their country. The signing of the World War I Armistice took place 

in a railway coach near the battle zone in France. The bugles sounded “cease firing” 

and the hostilities ended, marking a most significant moment in world history. 

Although 11 a.m. remains a traditional hour for this type of tribute, a moment of 

silence is appropriate at any point in the program. This may be followed by a 

rendition of “Taps.” 

Closing — The Master of Ceremonies announces "Retire the Colors." Accompanied 

by appropriate music, such as a John Philip Sousa march, the colors are paraded 

out of the assembly area, concluding the ceremony. 

2. Flag-Raising Ceremony Weather permitting, outdoor flag-raising ceremonies permit 

group participation in an event that is often performed without notice. Such a ceremony, 

although brief, should include the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the National 

Anthem. A special guest may be invited to participate. 

3. Musical Programs Veterans Day offers an excellent opportunity for school or 

community musical organizations to display their talents. A midday concert at the school 

or at a central location in the community may be especially dedicated to Veterans Day. 

An innovative program might include selections known to have been popular during 

America’s wars. 

4. Poster Contest The creative talents of students can be encouraged through 

participation in a school-wide Veterans Day poster contest. Winners should be 

appropriately recognized and awarded certificates. Local newspapers should be invited 

to photograph the winning entries. 

5. School Newspaper Activities Veterans Day stories can be featured in school 

publications. Publish a roster of faculty members who are veterans. Describe Veterans 

Day activities being held in classrooms throughout the school. 

6. Library Activities School or community libraries can prepare lists of recommended 

reading material suitable for Veterans Day. An appropriate display of book jackets or a 

special shelf of selected publications can be used to call attention to the project. 

7. Patriotic Groups Local veterans, historical or other patriotic organizations may 

enliven Veterans Day programs by providing period-uniformed flag bearers, fife and 
drum corps, and other marching and musical units. These organizations may also 

provide speakers with unique military experiences to share. 

8. The Department of Veterans Affairs Local VA facilities — medical centers, regional 

benefits offices and national cemeteries — can serve as sources of information and 

speakers for Veterans Day programs. They can also provide contact with local veterans 

service organizations and arrange visits, tours and other special programs for students. 

To contact your local VA facilities, look under Department of Veterans Affairs in the 

Federal Government listings in the local telephone directory. 

9. Classroom Activities Veterans Day themes can be included in writing assignments. 

First-person accounts of military service of a relative or friend can help develop 

narrative skills. Assign students to investigate the various benefits offered to veterans 

by government agencies. Write about veterans who are receiving educational benefits 

from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Describe various veterans memorials which 

may be located nearby. 

The colorful and varied uniforms worn by members of the armed forces throughout our 

history offer students of all ages ideal subjects to draw and paint. Elementary-school 

children enjoy opportunities to create and exhibit costume items. Making colored 

construction paper hats representing various military eras is a modest and effective way 

of interesting pupils in Veterans Day subjects. Ask students to research and list all their 

known relatives who served in the Armed Forces. Since nearly 30 percent of the United 

States population are veterans, their dependents and survivors, most students should 

be able to contribute something.
The Purple Heart 

It is one of the most recognized and respected medals awarded to members of the U.S. 

armed forces. Introduced as the “Badge of Military Merit” by General George 

Washington in 1782, the Purple Heart is also the nation’s oldest military award. In 

military terms, the award had “broken service,” as it was ignored for nearly 150 years 

until it was re-introduced on February 22, 1932, on the 200th anniversary of George 

Washington’s birth. The medal’s plain inscription “FOR MILITARY MERIT” barely 

expresses its significance. 

--------------------------------- 

On August 7, 1782, from his headquarters in Newburgh, New York, General George 

Washington wrote: 

Gen. George Washington’s instructions for 

the Badge of Military Merit

“The General ever desirous to cherish 

virtuous ambition in his soldiers, as well as 

to foster and encourage every species of 

Military merit, directs that whenever any 

singularly meritorious action is performed, 

the author of it shall be permitted to wear 

on his facings over the left breast, the 

figure of a heart in purple cloth, or silk, 

edged with narrow lace or binding. Not 

only instances of unusual gallantry, but 

also of extraordinary fidelity and essential 

service in any way shall meet with a due 

reward. Before this favour can be 

conferred on any man, the particular fact, 

or facts, on which it is to be grounded must be set forth to the Commander in chief 

accompanied with certificates from the Commanding officers of the regiment and 

brigade to which the Candidate for reward belonged, or other incontestable proofs, and 

upon granting it, the name and regiment of the person with the action so certified are to 

be enrolled in the book of merit which will be kept at the orderly office. Men who have 

merited this last distinction to be suffered to pass all guards and sentinels which officers 

are permitted to do. 

The road to glory in a patriot army and a free country is thus open to all. This order is 

also to have retrospect to the earliest stages of the war, and to be considered as a 

permanent one.” 
Only three soldiers are known to have received the original honor badge: Sergeant 

Daniel Bissell of the 2d Connecticut Regiment of the Continental Line; Sergeant William 

Brown of the 5th Connecticut Regiment of the Continental Line, and Sergeant Elijah 

Churchill of the 2d Continental Dragoons, also a Connecticut regiment. 

For unknown reasons, the medal apparently was not awarded again. In fact, it was not 

until October 1927, after Word War I, that General Charles Summerall proposed that a 

bill be submitted to Congress to revive the “Badge of Military Merit.” In January, 1928, 

the Army’s Office of The Adjutant General was instructed to file the materials 

concerning the proposed medal. Among those materials was a rough drawing of a 

circular medal disc with a concave center on which a raised heart was visible. 

Engraved on the back of the medal was “For Military Merit.” 

In January 1931, General Douglas MacArthur, Summerall’s successor as Army Chief of 

Staff, resurrected the idea for the medal. Miss Elizabeth Will, an Army heraldic 

specialist in the Office of the Quartermaster General, was assigned the task of 

designing the medal according to some general guidelines provided to her. The 

Commission of Fine Arts obtained plaster models from three sculptors and, in May 

1931, selected the model produced by John Sinnock of the Philadelphia Mint. 

On February 22, 1932 -- the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth -- the War 

Department (predecessor to the Department of Defense) announced the establishment 

of the Purple Heart award in General Order No. 3: 

By order of the President of the United States, the Purple Heart 

established by General George Washington at Newburgh, August 7, 1782, 

during the War of the Revolution, is hereby revived out of respect to his 

memory and military achievements. 

By Order of the Secretary War 

Douglas MacArthur 

General 

Chief of Staff 
Purple Heart (obverse)

Purple Heart (reverse)

Army regulations specified the design of the medal as an 

enamel heart, purple in color and showing a relief profile 

of George Washington in Continental Army uniform within 

a quarter-inch bronze border. Above the enameled heart 

is Washington’s family coat of arms between two sprays 

of leaves. On the reverse side, below the shield and 

leaves, is a raised bronze heart without enamel bearing 

the inscription “For Military Merit.” The 1 11/16 inch 

medal is suspended by a purple cloth, 1 3/8 inches in 

length by 1 3/8 inches in width with 1/8-inch white edges. 

Army regulations’ eligibility criteria for the award included: 

• Those in possession of a Meritorious Service 

Citation Certificate issued by the Commander-in 

Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in 

World War I. (The Certificates had to be 

exchanged for the Purple Heart.) 

• Those authorized by Army regulations to wear 

wound chevrons. (These men also had to apply 

for the new award.) 

The newly reintroduced Purple Heart was not intended 

primarily as an award for those wounded in action -- the 

“wound chevron” worn by a soldier on his sleeve already 

fulfilled that purpose. Establishing the Meritorious Service 

Citation as a qualification for receiving the Purple Heart 

was very much in keeping with General Washington’s 

original intent for the award. 

However, authorizing the award in exchange for “wound 

chevrons” established the now familiar association of the 

award with injuries sustained in battle. This was 

reinforced by Army regulations, which stated that the 

award required a "singularly meritorious act of extraordinary fidelity service" and that "a 

wound which necessitates treatment by a medical officer and which is received in action 

with an enemy, may, in the judgment of the commander authorized to make the award, 

be construed as resulting from a singularly meritorious act of essential service." 

Until Executive Order 9277 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in December 1942 

authorized award of the Purple Heart to personnel from all of the military services 

(retroactive to December 7, 1941), the medal was exclusively an Army award. The 

Executive Order also stated that the Purple Heart was to be awarded to persons who 

“are wounded in action against an enemy of the United States, or as a result of an act of 

such enemy, provided such would necessitate treatment by a medical officer.” 
In November 1952, President Harry S. Truman issued an Executive Order extending 

eligibility for the award to April 5, 1917, to coincide with the eligibility dates for Army 

personnel. 

President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11016 in April 1962 that further 

extended eligibility to "any civilian national of the United States, who while serving under 

competent authority in any capacity with an armed force..., has been, or may hereafter 

be, wounded" and authorized posthumous award of the medal. 

Executive Order 12464 signed by President Ronald Reagan in February 1984, 

authorized award of the Purple Heart as a result of terrorist attacks or while serving as 

part of a peacekeeping force subsequent to March 28, 1973. The 1998 National 

Defense Authorization Act removed civilians from the list of personnel eligible for the 

medal. 

The Purple Heart is ranked immediately behind the bronze star and ahead of the 

Defense Meritorious Service Medal in order of precedence. 

Possession of the Purple Heart medal does not by itself qualify veterans for Department 

of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation. However, since November 1999, 

Purple Heart recipients have been placed in VA’s enrollment priority group 3, unless 

eligible for the higher priority groups (1 or 2) based on service-connected disabilities. 

Recipients are also exempt from co-payments for VA hospital care and medical 

outpatient care, but not from pharmacy co-payments for medications prescribed for nonservice connected conditions. 
The Origins of Memorial Day

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, 

the head of an organization of Union veterans — the 

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established 

Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the 

graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. 

Logan declared it should be May 30. It is believed the 

date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all 

over the country. 

The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across 

the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The ceremonies centered around the 

mourning- draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. 

Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided 

over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan 

Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers 

on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns. 

Local Observances Claim To Be First 

Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in various places. 

One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of women 

visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in 

battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they 

were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of 

their flowers on those graves, as well. Today, cities in the North and the South claim to 

be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Ga., claim the 

title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two 

years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first 

Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale was the 

wartime home of Gen. Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in connection 

with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the war dead 

were buried. 

Official Birthplace Declared 

In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the 

“birthplace” of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local 
veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at 

half-staff. Supporters of Waterloo’s claim say earlier observances in other places were 

either informal, not community- wide or one-time events. By the end of the 19th century, 

Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. State 

legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted 

regulations for proper observance at their facilities. It was not until after World War I, 

however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American 

wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, 

though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday 

in May, as were some other federal holidays. 

Some States Have Confederate Observances 

Many Southern states also have their own days for honoring the Confederate dead. 

Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on the last Monday of April, Alabama 

on the fourth Monday of April, and Georgia on April 26. North and South Carolina 

observe it on May 10, Louisiana on June 3 and Tennessee calls that date Confederate 

Decoration Day. Texas celebrates Confederate Heroes Day January 19 and Virginia 

calls the last Monday in May Confederate Memorial Day. 

Gen. Logan’s order for his posts to decorate graves in 1868 “with the choicest flowers of 

springtime” urged: “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. ... Let pleasant 

paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no 

neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we 

have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.” 

The crowd attending the first Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery 

was approximately the same size as those that attend today’s observance, about 5,000 

people. Then, as now, small American flags were placed on each grave — a tradition 

followed at many national cemeteries today. In recent years, the custom has grown in 

many families to decorate the graves of all departed loved ones. 

The origins of special services to honor those who die in war can be found in antiquity. 

The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian 

War over 24 centuries ago that could be applied today to the 1.1 million Americans who 

have died in the nation’s wars: “Not only are they commemorated by columns and 

inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone 

but in the hearts of men.” 

To ensure the sacrifices of America’s fallen heroes are never forgotten, in December 

2000, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed into law “The National 

Moment of Remembrance Act,” P.L. 106-579, creating the White House Commission on 

the National Moment of Remembrance. The commission’s charter is to “encourage the 

people of the United States to give something back to their country, which provides 

them so much freedom and opportunity” by encouraging and coordinating 

commemorations in the United States of Memorial Day and the National Moment of 

Remembrance. 
The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause wherever 

they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and 

honor those who have died in service to the nation. As Moment of Remembrance 

founder Carmella LaSpada states: “It’s a way we can all help put the memorial back in 

Memorial Day.” 
 

The Flower of Remembrance 

In Flanders Fields 

By John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow 

Between the crosses, row on row, 

That mark our place; and in the sky 

The larks, still bravely singing, fly. 

Scarce heard amid the guns below. 

We are the dead. Short days ago 

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow 

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie 

In Flanders fields. 

Take up our quarrel with the foe: 

To you from failing hands we throw 

The torch; be yours to hold it high. 

If ye break faith with us who die 

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow 

In Flanders fields.

This was the poem written by World War I Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon with 

Canada's First Brigade Artillery. It expressed McCrae's grief over the "row on row" of 

graves of soldiers who had died on Flanders' battlefields, located in a region of western 

Belgium and northern France. The poem presented a striking image of the bright red 

flowers blooming among the rows of white crosses and became a rallying cry to all who 

fought in the First World War. The first printed version of it reportedly was in December 

1915, in the British magazine Punch. 

McCrae's poem had a huge impact on two women, Anna E. Guerin of France and 

Georgia native Moina Michael. Both worked hard to initiate the sale of artificial poppies 

to help orphans and others left destitute by the war. By the time Guerin established the 

first sale in the U.S., in 1920 with the help of The American Legion, the poppy was well 

known in the allied countries — America, Britain, France, Canada, Australia and New 

Zealand — as the "Flower of Remembrance." Proceeds from that first sale went to the 

American and French Children's League. 

Guerin had difficulty with the distribution of the poppies in early 1922 and sought out 

Michael for help. Michael had started a smaller-scaled Poppy Day during a YMCA 
conference she was attending in New York and wanted to use the poppies as a symbol 

of remembrance of the war. Guerin, called the "Poppy Lady of France" in her homeland, 

and Michael, later dubbed "The Poppy Princess" by the Georgia legislature, went to the 

Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) for help. Following its first nationwide distribution of 

poppies, the VFW adopted the poppy as its official memorial flower in 1922. 

However, a shortage of poppies from French manufacturers led to the idea of using 

unemployed and disabled veterans to produce the artificial flowers. In 1924, a poppy 

factory was built in Pittsburgh, Pa., providing a reliable source of poppies and a practical 

means of assistance to veterans. Today, veterans at VA medical facilities and veterans 

homes help assemble the poppies, which are distributed by veterans service 

organizations throughout the country. 

Donations received in return for these artificial poppies have helped countless veterans 

and their widows, widowers and orphans over the years. The poppy itself continues to 

serve as a perpetual tribute to those who have given their lives for the nation's freedom. 
The Story of Taps

The 24-note melancholy bugle call known as “taps” is thought to be a revision of a 

French bugle signal, called “tattoo,” that notified soldiers to cease an evening’s drinking 

and return to their garrisons. It was sounded an hour before the final bugle call to end 

the day by extinguishing fires and lights. The last five measures of the tattoo resemble 

taps. 

The word “taps” is an alteration of the obsolete word “taptoo,” derived from the Dutch 

“taptoe.” Taptoe was the command — “Tap toe!” — to shut (“toe to”) the “tap” of a keg. 

The revision that gave us present-day taps was made during America’s Civil War by 

Union Gen. Daniel Adams Butterfield, heading a brigade camped at Harrison Landing, 

Va., near Richmond. Up to that time, the U.S. Army’s infantry call to end the day was 

the French final call, “L’Extinction des feux.” Gen. Butterfield decided the “lights out” 

music was too formal to signal the day’s end. One day in July 1862 he recalled the 

tattoo music and hummed a version of it to an aide, who wrote it down in music. 

Butterfield then asked the brigade bugler, Oliver W. Norton, to play the notes and, after 

listening, lengthened and shortened them while keeping his original melody. 

He ordered Norton to play this new call at the end of each day thereafter, instead of the 

regulation call. The music was heard and appreciated by other brigades, who asked for 

copies and adopted this bugle call. It was even adopted by Confederate buglers. 

This music was made the official Army bugle call after the war, but not given the name 

“taps” until 1874. 

The first time taps was played at a military funeral may also have been in Virginia soon 

after Butterfield composed it. Union Capt. John Tidball, head of an artillery battery, 

ordered it played for the burial of a cannoneer killed in action. Not wanting to reveal the 

battery’s position in the woods to the enemy nearby, Tidball substituted taps for the 

traditional three rifle volleys fired over the grave. Taps was played at the funeral of 

Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson 10 months after it was composed. Army infantry 

regulations by 1891 required taps to be played at military funeral ceremonies. 

Taps now is played by the military at burial and memorial services, to accompany the 

lowering of the flag and to signal the “lights out” command at day’s end. 

Arlington National Cemetery 

Almost four million people a year visit the national cemetery across the Potomac River 

from Washington, D.C., where a constant vigil is maintained at the Tomb of the 

Unknowns. Arlington National Cemetery is the site of the changing of a military guard 

around the clock daily. On Veterans Day 1921, a coffin bearing the body of an 

unidentified soldier of World War I was entombed adjacent to the Memorial 

Amphitheater and a monument weighing more than 100 tons placed atop it in 1932. 

Nearby crypts bear the remains of unknown American service members of World War II 

and the Korean War. The remains of a previously unknown Vietnam service member 

were exhumed on May 14, 1998, identified as Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, 

and removed for burial. 

Currently, the main part of the Tomb of the 

Unknowns’ above ground monument is being 

replaced because of two large cracks that have 

appeared in the marble. A detailed description 

of the tomb replacement project can be found on 

page 24 of the March/April edition of VA's 

magazine, VAnguard (1.1 MB PDF). 

Each Memorial Day and Veterans Day, a presidential wreath is placed at the tomb. 

This may explain why Arlington is America’s most well-known national cemetery, even 

though it is not the largest or the oldest. Some 230,000 veterans and dependents are 
buried on the cemetery’s 612 acres. From Pierre L’Enfant, George Washington’s aide 

during the American Revolution, to American service members killed during Operation 

Desert Storm, Arlington holds the remains of veterans representing every military action 

the United States has fought. 

Union Seized Lee’s Property 

The cemetery’s origins go back to just before the Civil War. George Washington Parke 

Custis, adopted son of the first president, owned a 1,100-acre plantation and 

constructed on it a memorial to Washington named Arlington House, which held the 

world’s largest collection of memorabilia related to the president. Ownership of his 

estate passed to Custis’ daughter, who had married Robert E. Lee, and they lived in 

Arlington House for more than 30 years. The Lee family fled when the Civil War was 

imminent. The Union seized the property because of its strategic location overlooking 

Washington. Because of the bitter grudge against the South that Union Brig. Gen. 

Montgomery Meigs bore, and the need for burial space for the Union dead, this 

commander of forces at Arlington urged the federal government to convert 200 acres of 

Lee’s property to a cemetery. Meigs ordered burials near the house to make the 

grounds uninhabitable after the war. 

The first soldier was buried in Arlington in May 1864. By war’s end, 16,000 graves filled 

the spaces close to Arlington House. Though the Supreme Court ruled finally in favor of 

the heir to the property, the eldest Lee son ceded title to the government for $150,000 

and renounced any thought of living in Arlington House. From the portico of the 

mansion, the first official Memorial Day was proclaimed in 1868. 

Burials Restricted 

Whereas after the Civil War, only the poor or unidentified were entombed at Arlington, 

now it is a burial site particularly coveted by veterans and their families. Space for inground burials is restricted to those who die on active duty, have had 20 years of 

service, or earned certain military decorations, and their spouses and dependents. Any 

honorably discharged veterans and dependents may have their cremated remains 

inurned in Arlington’s columbarium. Honors are rendered daily by military units bearing 

a flag-draped coffin, firing a rifle volley and performing taps. 

Numerous veterans and civic groups hold memorial services in the cemetery’s marble 

amphitheater. Monuments have been erected from time to time to memorialize specific 

groups of military members or veterans buried there. 

Prominent Americans buried at Arlington include: Presidents John F. Kennedy and 

William H. Taft; World War I General of the Armies John J. Pershing; Generals Omar 

Bradley and George C. Marshall of World War II; and Generals Daniel “Chappie” James 

and Maxwell Taylor of the Vietnam War. 
The United States Flag 

Betsy Ross showing the United States flag 

to George Washington and others 

The flag of the United States is one of the oldest national standards in the world. 

General George Washington first raised the Continental Army flag in 1776, a red-andwhite striped flag with the British Union Jack where we now have stars. 

Several flag designs with 13 stripes were used in 1776 and 1777, until Congress 

established an official design on June 14, 1777 — now observed as Flag Day. The act 

stated, “That the Flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and 

white, that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new 

constellation.” Washington explained it this way: “We take the stars from heaven, the 

red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have 

separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing 

liberty.” 

The First Flag 

No records confirm who designed the original Stars and Stripes, but historians believe 

Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, probably 

modified the unofficial Continental flag into the design we now have. 
The State Navy Board of Pennsylvania, on May 29, 1777, commissioned Betsy Ross to 

sew flags for Navy vessels. Legend credits Ross with having sewn the first flag to meet 

the specifications outlined by Congress, while changing the stars from six points to five 

to speed her work. 

The flag was first carried in battle at Brandywine, Pa., in September 1777. It first flew 

over foreign territory in early 1778, at Nassau, Bahama Islands, where Americans 

captured a fort from the British. 

After Vermont and Kentucky became states in the 1790s, Congress approved adding 

two more stars and two more stripes to the group that represented the original 13 

colonies, now states. This was the Star Spangled Banner” of which Francis Scott Key 

wrote in 1814. 

1818 Law Sets Final Form 

As other states entered the Union, it became obvious that stripes could not be added 

continually, so in 1818 Congress reestablished the 13-stripe flag for the original 13 

colonies and allowed for additional stars for new states. 

The law specified that stripes should be horizontal, alternately red and white, and the 

union, or canton, should display 20 stars for the states then in the union. But it did not 

specify color shades or arrangement of the stars, and wide variation persisted. During 

the Civil War, gold stars were more common than white and the stars sometimes 

appeared in a circle. 

The first time the Stars and Stripes flew in a Flag Day celebration was in Hartford, 

Conn., 1861, the first summer of the Civil War. In the late 1800s, schools held Flag Day 

programs to contribute to the Americanization of immigrant children, and the 

observance caught on with individual communities. As a patriotic custom, the Stars and 

Stripes still flies in front of schools when classes are in session. 

In 1916, the president proclaimed a nationwide observance of Flag Day, but it was not 

until 1949 that Congress voted for Flag Day to be a permanent holiday. When the 49th 

and 50th stars were added in 1959 and 1960, the standards of design became even 

more precise. The regulated design calls for seven red and six white stripes, with the 

red stripes at top and bottom. The union of navy blue fills the upper left quarter from the 

top to the lower edge of the fourth red stripe. The stars have one point up and are in 

nine horizontal rows. The odd-numbered rows have six stars. The even-numbered rows 

have five stars, centered diagonally between the stars in the longer rows.
The Pledge of Allegiance 

Astronaut David R. Scott gives a military 

salute to the U.S. flag during a 1971 Apollo 

15 moonwalk. 

Thirty-one words which affirm the values and freedom that the American flag represents 

are recited while facing the flag as a pledge of Americans’ loyalty to their country. The 

Pledge of Allegiance was written for the 400th anniversary, in 1892, of the discovery of 

America. A national committee of educators and civic leaders planned a public-school 

celebration of Columbus Day to center around the flag. Included with the script for 

ceremonies that would culminate in raising of the flag was the pledge. So it was in 

October 1892 Columbus Day programs that school children across the country first 

recited the Pledge of Allegiance this way: 

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and 

to the Republic for which it stands: 

one Nation indivisible, with Liberty 

and Justice for all. 

Controversy continues over whether the author was the chairman of the committee, 

Francis Bellamy — who worked on a magazine for young people that published the 

pledge — or James Upham, who worked for the publishing firm that produced the 

magazine. The pledge was published anonymously in the magazine and was not 

copyrighted. 

According to some accounts of Bellamy as author, he decided to write a pledge of 

allegiance, rather than a salute, because it was a stronger expression of loyalty — 

something particularly significant even 27 years after the Civil War ended. “One Nation 

indivisible” referred to the outcome of the Civil War, and “Liberty and Justice for all” 

expressed the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. 
The words “my flag” were replaced by “the flag of the United States” in 1923, because 

some foreign-born people might have in mind the flag of the country of their birth, 

instead of the U.S. flag. A year later, “of America” was added after “United States.” No 

form of the pledge received official recognition by Congress until June 22, 1942, when it 

was formally included in the U.S. Flag Code. The official name of The Pledge of 

Allegiance was adopted in 1945. The last change in language came on Flag Day 1954, 

when Congress passed a law which added the words “under God” after “one nation.” 

Originally, the pledge was said with the hand in the so-called “Bellamy Salute,” with the 

hand resting first outward from the chest, then the arm extending out from the body. 

Once Hitler came to power in Europe, some Americans were concerned that this 

position of the arm and hand resembled the salute rendered by the Nazi military. In 

1942, Congress established the current practice of rendering the pledge with the right 

hand placed flat over the heart. 

Section 7 of the Federal Flag Code states that when not in military uniform, men should 

remove any headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, thereby 

resting the hand over the heart. People in military uniform should remain silent, face the 

flag and render the military salute. 

The Flag Code specifies that any future changes to the pledge would have to be with 

the consent of the president. 

The Pledge of Allegiance now reads: 

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America 

and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation 

under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 
"The Star-Spangled Banner" 

The Star-Spangled Banner 

This is the flag that inspired Francis Scott 

Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.” 

The flag, which flew over Fort McHenry in 

Baltimore during the 1814 battle at the fort, 

is a 15-star, 15-stripe garrison flag made in 

1813 and loosely woven so that it could fly 

on a 90-foot flagpole. 

This patriotic song, whose words were written by Francis Scott Key on Sept. 14, 1814, 

during the War of 1812 with Great Britain, was adopted by Congress as the U.S. 

national anthem in 1931. For many years before Congress made this choice, the song 

was popular and regulations for military bands required that it be played for ceremonies. 

Though Key wrote the words during the British bombardment of Fort McHenry at 

Baltimore, the melody was an English tune well known in America by the 1790s. It was 

the music for a poem, “To Anacreon in Heaven,” written about 1780 as the official song 

of a British social and musical organization, the Anacreontic Society. In fact, Key had 

used the music in 1805 to accompany another poem he wrote to honor Commodore 

Stephen Decatur. 

Key Detained While Negotiating 

Key was a well known 34-year-old Washington, D.C., lawyer-poet. The British had 

captured Washington and taken William Beanes, a physician, prisoner. They were 

holding him aboard ship in their fleet off the Baltimore shore. Friends of Beanes 

persuaded Key to negotiate his release. Key went out to the British fleet and succeeded 

in gaining Beanes’ release but, because the British planned to attack Baltimore at that 

time, both were detained. 

During the night of Sept. 13-14, Key watched the bombardment of Baltimore from the 

deck of a British ship. Although rain obscured the fort during the night, at daybreak he 

could see the American flag still flying from Fort McHenry. The fort still stood after the 

British had fired some 1,800 bombs, rockets and shells at it, about 400 of them landing 
inside. Four defenders were killed and 24 wounded. Key drafted the words of a poem 

on an envelope. The American detainees were sent ashore, the British fleet withdrew, 

and Key finished the poem and made a good copy of it in a Baltimore hotel the next 

day. 

Poem an Instant Hit in Baltimore 

According to some accounts, Key showed the poem to relatives of his wife in Baltimore 

who had it printed immediately and distributed throughout the city on a handbill, entitled 

“The Defense of Fort McHenry.” Within a couple of weeks, Baltimore newspapers 

published the poem. It gained instant popularity and was renamed “The Star-Spangled 

Banner.” An actor sang it to the popular British tune at a public performance in 

Baltimore. 

Only with the start of the Civil War did “The Star-Spangled Banner” become a nationally 

popular song. During World War I, a drive began in Congress to make it the official 

anthem of America’s armed forces. There were other contenders for the title, including 

“America the Beautiful” and “Yankee Doodle.” Maryland legislators and citizens were 

among the most active groups and individuals who pressed to get Francis Scott Key’s 

words and accompanying English tune ratified into law as the country’s first national 

anthem. That finally happened when President Herbert Hoover signed legislation on 

March 3, 1931. 

The anthem has four verses, each ending with the line, “O’er the land of the free and 

the home of the brave.”
“Old Glory’’ 

The name “Old Glory” was first applied to the U.S. flag by a young sea captain who 

lived in Salem, Mass. On his twenty-first birthday, March 17, 1824, Capt. William Driver 

was presented a beautiful flag by his mother and a group of local young ladies. Driver 

was delighted with the gift. He exclaimed, “I name her ‘Old Glory.’” Then Old Glory 

accompanied the captain on his many voyages. 

Captain Driver quit the sea in 1837 and settled in Nashville, Tenn. On patriotic days, he 

displayed Old Glory proudly from a rope extending from his house to a tree across the 

street. After Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, Captain Driver hid Old Glory 

by sewing the flag inside a comforter. When Union soldiers entered Nashville on 

February 25, 1862, Driver removed Old Glory from its hiding place, carried the flag to 

the state capitol building, and proudly raised it for all to see. 

Shortly before his death, the old sea captain placed a small bundle into the arms of his 

daughter. He said to her, “Mary Jane, this is my ship flag, Old Glory. It has been my 

constant companion. I love it as a mother loves her child. Cherish it as I have cherished 

it.” 

The flag remained as a precious heirloom in the Driver family until 1922. Then it was 

sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where it is carefully preserved 

under glass today. 
 

The Origins of Flag Day

That the flag of the United States shall be of 

thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, 

with a union of thirteen stars of white in a blue field, 

representing the new constellation.

This was the resolution adopted by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. The 

resolution was made following the report of a special committee which had been 

assigned to suggest the flag’s design. 

A flag of this design was first carried into battle on September 11, 1777, in the Battle of 

the Brandywine. The American flag was first saluted by foreign naval vessels on 

February 14, 1778, when the Ranger, bearing the Stars and Stripes and under the 

command of Captain Paul Jones, arrived in a French port. The flag first flew over a 

foreign territory in early 1778 at Nassau, Bahama Islands, where Americans captured a 

British fort. 

Observance of the adoption of the flag was not soon in coming, however. Although 

there are many claims to the first official observance of Flag Day, all but one took place 

more than an entire century after the flag’s adoption in 1777. 

The first claim was from a Hartford, Conn., celebration during the first summer of 1861. 

In the late 1800s, schools all over the United States held Flag Day programs to 

contribute to the Americanization of immigrant children, and the observance caught on 

with individual communities. 
The most recognized claim, however, comes from New York. On June 14, 1889, 

Professor George Bolch, principal of a free kindergarten for the poor of New York City, 

had his school hold patriotic ceremonies to observe the anniversary of the Flag Day 

resolution. This initiative attracted attention from the State Department of Education, 

which arranged to have the day observed in all public schools thereafter. 

Soon the state legislature passed a law making it the responsibility of the state 

superintendent of public schools to ensure that schools hold observances for Lincoln’s 

Birthday, Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day and Flag Day. In 1897, the governor of 

New York ordered the displaying of the flag over all public buildings in the state, an 

observance considered by some to be the first official recognition of the anniversary of 

the adoption of the flag outside of schools. 

Another claim comes from Philadelphia. In 1893, the Society of Colonial Dames 

succeeded in getting a resolution passed to have the flag displayed on all of the city’s 

public buildings. Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, a direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin 

and the president of the Colonial Dames of Pennsylvania, that same year tried to get 

the city to call June 14 Flag Day. Resolutions by women were not granted much notice, 

however, and it was not until May 7, 1937, that Pennsylvania became the first state to 

establish the June 14 Flag Day as a legal holiday. Flag Day is a nationwide observance 

today, but Pennsylvania is the only state that recognizes it as a legal holiday. 

Bernard J. Cigrand, a school teacher in Waubeka, Wisconsin, reportedly spent years 

trying to get Congress to declare June 14 as a national holiday. Although his attempts 

failed, the day was widely observed. “Father of Flag Day” honors have been given to 

William T. Kerr, who was credited with founding the American Flag Day Association in 

1888 while still a schoolboy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Both President Wilson, in 1916, and President Coolidge, in 1927, issued proclamations 

asking for June 14 to be observed as the National Flag Day. But it wasn’t until August 3, 

1949, that Congress approved the national observance, and President Harry Truman 

signed it into law. 
Guidelines for Display of the Flag 

Public Law 94-344, known as the Federal Flag Code, contains rules for handling and 

displaying the U.S. flag. While the federal code contains no penalties for misusing the 

flag, states have their own flag codes and may impose penalties. The language of the 

federal code makes clear that the flag is a living symbol. 

In response to a Supreme Court decision which held that a state law prohibiting flag 

burning was unconstitutional, Congress enacted the Flag Protection Act in 1989. It 

provides that anyone who knowingly desecrates the flag may be fined and/or 

imprisoned for up to one year. However, this law was challenged by the Supreme Court 

in a 1990 decision that the Flag Protection Act violates the First Amendment free 

speech protections. 

Important Things to Remember 

Traditional guidelines call for displaying the flag in public only from sunrise to sunset. 

However, the flag may be displayed at all times if it’s illuminated during darkness. The 

flag should not be subject to weather damage, so it should not be displayed during rain, 

snow and wind storms unless it is an all-weather flag. 

It should be displayed often, but especially on national and state holidays and special 

occasions. 

The flag should be displayed on or near the main building of public institutions, schools 

during school days, and polling places on election days. It should be hoisted briskly and 

lowered ceremoniously. 

When carried in procession with other 

flags, the U.S. flag should be either on the 

marching right (the flag’s right) or to the 

front and center of the flag line. When 

displayed on a float in a parade, the flag 

should be hung from a staff or suspended 

so it falls free. It should not be draped over 

a vehicle. 
When displayed with another flag against 

a wall from crossed staffs, the U.S. flag 

should be on its own right (left to a person 

facing the wall) and its staff should be in 

front of the other flag’s staff. 

In a group of flags displayed from staffs, 

the U.S. flag should be at the center and 

the highest point. 

When the U.S. flag is displayed other than 

from a staff, it should be displayed flat, or 

suspended so that its folds fall free. When 

displayed over a street, place the union so 

it faces north or east, depending upon the 

direction of the street. 

When the U.S. flag is displayed from a 

staff projecting from a building, the union 

of the flag should be placed at the peak of 

the staff unless the flag is at half staff. 

When suspended from a rope extending 

from the building on a pole, the flag should 

be hoisted out, union first from the 

building. 

When flags of states, cities or 

organizations are flown on the same staff, 

the U.S. flag must be at the top (except 

during church services conducted at sea 

by Navy chaplains). 
When other flags are flown from adjacent 

staffs, the U.S. flag should be hoisted first 

and lowered last. It must be on the right of 

other flags and no other flag should stand 

higher than it. Flags of other nations 

should be flown from separate staffs. 

International custom dictates that flags of 

different nations be displayed at the same 

height in peacetime and be approximately 

the same size. 

When displayed flat against the wall on a 

speaker’s platform, the flag should be 

above and behind the speaker with the 

union on the left side as the audience 

looks at it (again, the flag’s right). 

When the flag hangs from a staff in a 

church or public place, it should appear to 

the audience on the left, the speaker’s 

right. Any other flags displayed should be 

placed on the opposite side of the 

speaker. 

The flag may cover a casket, but should 

not cover a statue or monument for 

unveiling. On a casket, the union (blue 

field) should be at the deceased person’s 

head and heart, over the left shoulder. But 

the flag should be removed before the 

casket is lowered into the grave and 

should never touch the ground. Whenever 

the flag is displayed at half-staff, it should 

be first raised to the top. Lowering from 

half-staff is preceded by first raising it 

momentarily to the top. 
During the hoisting or lowering of the flag 

or when it passes in parade or review, 

Americans should stand at attention facing 

the flag and place their right hand over the 

heart. Uniformed military members render 

the military salute. Men not in uniform 

should remove any headdress and hold it 

with their right hand at their left shoulder, 

the hand resting over the heart. Those 

who are not U.S. citizens should stand at 

attention. 

The flag should never be draped or drawn back in folds. Draped red, white and blue 

bunting should be used for decoration, with the blue at the top and red at the bottom. 

The flag may be flown at half-staff to honor a newly deceased federal or state 

government official by order of the president or the governor, respectively. On Memorial 

Day, the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon. 

Other Things Not to Do with the Flag 

Out of respect for the U.S. flag, never: 

• dip it for any person or thing, even though state flags, regimental colors and other 

flags may be dipped as a mark of honor. 

• display it with the union down, except as a signal of distress. 

• let the flag touch anything beneath it: ground, floor, water, merchandise. 

• carry it horizontally, but always aloft. 

• fasten or display it in a way that will permit it to be damaged or soiled. 

• place anything on the flag, including letters, insignia, or designs of any kind. 

• use it for holding anything. 

• use it as wearing apparel, bedding or drapery. It should not be used on a 

costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be attached to the 

uniform of patriotic organizations, military personnel, police officers and 

firefighters. 

• use the flag for advertising or promotion purposes or print it on paper napkins, 

boxes or anything else intended for temporary use and discard. 

During the hoisting or lowering of the flag or when it passes in parade or review, 

Americans should stand at attention facing the flag and place their right hand over the 

heart. Uniformed military members render the military salute. Men not in uniform should 

remove any headdress and hold it with their right hand at their left shoulder, the hand 

resting over the heart. Those who are not U.S. citizens should stand at attention. 
When the flag is worn out or otherwise no longer a fitting emblem for display, it should 

be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.
Flying the American Flag at Half Staff 

When should the flag be flown at half-staff? 

An easy way to remember when to fly the 

United States flag at half-staff is to 

consider when the whole nation is in 

mourning. These periods of mourning are 

proclaimed either by the president of the 

United States, for national remembrance, 

or the governor of a state or territory, for 

local remembrance, in the event of a death 

of a member or former member of the 

federal, state or territorial government or 

judiciary. The heads of departments and 

agencies of the federal government may 

also order that the flag be flown at halfstaff on buildings, grounds and naval 

vessels under their jurisdiction. 

On Memorial Day the flag should be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon only, then 

raised briskly to the top of the staff until sunset, in honor of the nation’s battle heroes. 

In the early days of our country, no regulations existed for flying the flag at half-staff 

and, as a result, there were many conflicting policies. But on March 1, 1954, President 

Dwight Eisenhower issued a proclamation on the proper times. 

The flag should fly at half-staff for 30 days at all federal buildings, grounds, and naval 

vessels throughout the United States and its territories and possessions after the death 

of the president or a former president. It is to fly 10 days at half-staff after the death of 

the vice president, the chief justice or a retired chief justice of the United States 

Supreme Court, or the speaker of the House of Representatives. For an associate 

justice of the Supreme Court, a member of the Cabinet, a former vice president, the 

president pro tempore of the Senate, the majority leader of the Senate, the minority 

leader of the Senate, the majority leader of the House of Representatives, or the 
minority leader of the House of Representatives the flag is to be displayed at half-staff 

from the day of death until interment. 

The flag is to be flown at half-staff at all federal buildings, grounds and naval vessels in 

the Washington, D.C., area on the day and day after the death of a United States 

senator, representative, territorial delegate, or the resident commissioner from the 

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It should also be flown at half-staff on all federal 

facilities in the state, congressional district, territory, or commonwealth of these officials. 

Upon the death of the governor of a state, territory or possession, the flag should be 

flown at half-staff on all federal facilities in that governor’s state, territory or possession 

from the day of death until interment. 

The president may order the flag to be flown at half-staff to mark the death of other 

officials, former officials, or foreign dignitaries. In addition to these occasions, the 

president may order half-staff display of the flag after other tragic events. 

The flag should be briskly run up to the top of the staff before being lowered slowly to 

the half-staff position. 
Correct Method of Folding the United States Flag 

Start 

Step 1 

Fold the lower striped section 

of the flag over the blue field. 

Step 2 

Folded edge is then folded 

over to meet the open edge. 

Step 3 

A triangular fold is then 

started by bringing the 

striped corner of the folded 

edge to the open edge. 

Step 4 Outer point is then turned 

inward parallel with the open 

edge to form a second 

triangle. 
Step 5 Triangular folding is 

continued until the entire 

length of the flag is folded in 

the triangular shape with only 

the blue field visible. 

Completed 
The POW/MIA Flag 

In 1971, Mrs. Michael Hoff, the wife of a U.S. military officer listed as missing in action 

during the Vietnam War, developed the idea for a national flag to remind every 

American of the U.S. servicemembers whose fates were never accounted for during the 

war. 

The black and white image of a gaunt silhouette, a strand of barbed wire and an 

ominous watchtower was designed by Newt Heisley, a former World War II pilot. Some 

claim the silhouette is a profile of Heisley’s son, who contracted hepatitis while training 

to go to Vietnam. The virus ravaged his body, leaving his features hallow and 

emaciated. They suggest that while staring at his son’s sunken features, Heisley saw 

the stark image of American servicemembers held captive under harsh conditions. 

Using a pencil, he sketched his son’s profile, creating the basis for a symbol that would 

come to have a powerful impact on the national conscience. 

By the end of the Vietnam War, more than 2,500 servicemembers were listed by the 

Department of Defense as Prisoner of War (POW) or Missing in Action (MIA). In 1979, 

as families of the missing pressed for full accountability, Congress and the president 

proclaimed the first National POW/MIA Recognition Day to acknowledge the families’ 

concerns and symbolize the steadfast resolve of the American people to never forget 

the men and women who gave up their freedom protecting ours. Three years later, in 

1982, the POW/MIA flag became the only flag other than the Stars and Stripes to fly 

over the White House in Washington, D.C. 

On August 10, 1990, Congress passed U.S. Public Law 101-355, designating the 

POW/MIA flag: 
“The symbol of our Nation’s concern and commitment to 

resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still 

prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.” 

Displaying the POW/MIA Flag 

Congress designated the third Friday of September as National POW/MIA Recognition 

Day and ordered prominent display of the POW/MIA flag on this day and several other 

national observances, including Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, 

Independence Day and Veterans Day. The 1998 Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 105-

85) mandates that on these national observances, the POW/MIA flag is to be flown over 

the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Korean and Vietnam Veterans War Memorials, 

the offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, offices of the 

Director of the Selective Service System, every major military installation (as directed by 

the Secretary of Defense), every post office and all Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) 

medical centers and national cemeteries. The act also directs VA medical centers to fly 

the POW/MIA flag on any day on which the flag of the United States is displayed. 

When displayed from a single flag pole, the POW/MIA flag should fly directly below, and 

be no larger than, the United States flag. If on separate poles, the U.S. flag should 

always be placed to the right of other flags. On the six national observances for which 

Congress has ordered display of the POW/ MIA flag, it is generally flown immediately 

below or adjacent to the United States flag as second in order of precedence. 
 

The American Bald Eagle

The bald eagle has been the national bird 

of the United States since 1782, when it 

was placed with outspread wings on the 

Great Seal of our country. It appears in 

many government institutions and on 

official documents, making it the most 

pictured bird in all of America. The eagle 

appears on the president’s flag, the mace 

of the House of Representatives, military 

insignia, and billions of one-dollar bills.

The bald eagle first appeared as an American symbol on a Massachusetts copper cent 

coined in 1776. Since then it has appeared on the reverse side of many U.S. coins, 

notably the silver dollar, halfdollar and quarter, as well as the gold coins which were 

christened the eagle, half eagle, quarter eagle, and double eagle. 

For six years, the members of Congress held a bitter dispute over what the national 

emblem should be. It wasn’t until 1789 that the bald eagle was finally chosen to 

represent the new nation. 

One of the most prominent opponents to the bald eagle’s status was Benjamin Franklin. 

In a letter to a friend, Franklin wrote: 

I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our 

country; he is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who 

live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. 

The turkey is a much more respectable bird and withal a true, original 

native of America. 

But not all of Congress shared Franklin’s sentiments. Bald eagles, like other eagles 

worldwide, had been seen by many as symbols of strength, courage, freedom and 

immortality for generations. And, unlike other eagles, the bald eagle was indigenous 

only to North America. 
Some eagles have become notable in American history. “Old Abe,” the mascot of a 

Wisconsin regiment during the Civil War, was a constant target of enemy riflemen, but 

survived 42 battle engagements relatively unscathed. 

Today, the American bald eagle is protected under the National Emblem Act of 1940. 

Although once plentiful throughout the continental United States, the bald eagle 

population has greatly declined in recent times. Farmers and fishermen have killed 

many eagles for getting too close to their poultry or fishing nets; game keepers have 

captured them for falconry; and pesticides have killed many eagles. Most of the bald 

eagle population can now be found in northern regions of North America and Florida 

breeding sanctuaries. 

President John F. Kennedy wrote to the Audubon Society: 

The Founding Fathers made an appropriate choice when they selected the 

bald eagle as the emblem of the nation. The fierce beauty and proud 

independence of this great bird aptly symbolizes the strength and freedom 

of America. But as latter-day citizens we shall fail our trust if we permit the 

eagle to disappear.
 

Gun Salutes 

Today, the firing of guns is seen as a great honor bestowed upon both military and 

political officials. Firing guns at the approach of a party demonstrates not only welcome 

but also respect and trust. In former times, however, firing all guns could leave a ship, 

fort or battery virtually defenseless, for the reloading took a great deal of time. For this 

reason, gun salutes were seen as a great honor. 

The practice of firing gun salutes was well established by the sixteenth century, 

although gun salutes had existed for centuries. Later, the number of guns to fire was 

designated for various ceremonies, honors and officials — in relation to their importance 

and position. 

The firing of three rifle volleys (rounds) over the graves of fallen armed forces members 

and political leaders can be traced to the European dynastic wars, when fighting was 

halted to remove the dead and wounded. Once an area was cleared of casualties, three 

volleys were sent into the air as a signal to resume fighting. 

By about 1730, the British navy was prescribing 21 guns for certain anniversary dates 

as a personal salute to members of the royal family. This was not mandatory, however. 

The 21-gun salute was adopted as the standard salute for royalty in 1808. 

The United States fired a “national salute,” on special occasions and during times of 

mourning, of one gun for each state in the union until 1841, when the salute was 

standardized at 21 guns. It was customary at that time, when naval vessels were visiting 

foreign ports, to salute the flag of that nation with the number of guns present in the 

foreign country’s national salute. It would have been difficult, if not impossible, for 

vessels visiting the United States to fire a salute that, in 1841, doubled the number of 
guns prescribed by most other nations (42 as compared to 21). Also, it would have been 

internationally discourteous to offer a salute to a foreign port with fewer guns then 

prescribed by our own national salute. 

The British proposed that the two nations exchange salutes gun for gun when their 

vessels visited American ports in the nineteenth century. In 1875, the British minister at 

Washington, D.C., and the U.S. secretary of state decided to work towards an 

agreement on salutes. On August 18, 1875, the United States formally adopted the 21-

gun salute, the number prescribed by Britain, France and other nations. 

No one can explain why the number 21 was chosen for national salutes. In ancient 

cultures, numerology, the study of numbers, developed symbolism behind most 

numbers. These cultures believed the number seven to be sacred and, therefore, it is 

believed, multiples of seven would be looked upon favorably (hence 21). Other gun 

salutes vary from five guns (the lowest) to 21 guns (the highest) by increments of two, 

and are prescribed in accordance with occasion and level of importance of those 

honored. It is generally believed that gun salutes are set off in odd numbers because of 

an old naval superstition that even numbers are unlucky.
 

The Seal of the Department of Veterans Affairs

You know them when you see them, those familiar shapes and symbols — corporate 

America calls them logos –that automatically identify a business in the public mind. 

They are closely guarded and protected. They are worth millions. Symbols are just as 

important to government agencies. A federal agency’s official seal, for example, carries 

the full weight and impact of the laws, resources and responsibilities vested in it by the 

American people. 

VA’s current seal dates back to 1989 when the then-Veterans Administration, an 

independent agency of the federal government, was made the Department of Veterans 

Affairs – a Cabinet member agency – by Congress. This brought many changes to VA, 

including a new VA seal. 

The reproduction and use of the VA seal is specified by law (38 CFR 1.9). It is reserved 

for limited use as the symbol of governmental authority invested by the Department. 

The seal identifies all official documents, certifications, awards, publications, regulations 

and reports. Variation and modifications of the seal are prohibited. It is VA’s legally 

sanctioned official signature. 

VA turned to its employees in its search for a new seal representing the newest Cabinet 

member. A contest was held among more than 225,000 VA employees to design the 

new seal. 

A design submitted by David Gregory, a medical media production specialist working at 

the Indianapolis VA Medical Center won. He focused on traditional American symbols 

and his own innovative symbolism to visually convey VA’s special mission. 

The five stars represent Army, 

Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast 

Guard. 

The flags represent the span of 

America’s history from 13 

colonies to present 50 states.

The eagle holds the cord to 

perpetuate the memory of all 

slain Americans and their 

sacrifices 

The golden cord symbolizes 

those who have fallen in defense 

of this country.
The VA seal features five key elements. The primary element is the bald eagle, the 

official symbol of the United States since 1789. The mature eagle is a powerful 

representation of the United States symbolizing both the American people and the 

freedoms they enjoy. The circle of five stars above the eagle represent the five 

branches of the U.S. military; Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, 

which produce the veterans VA serves. 

The two flags in the eagle’s talons symbolize America’s history from the thirteen 

colonies to the present fifty states. A golden cord symbolic of those Americans who 

have fallen in service to their country binds the flags. The cord is also held by the eagle 

to perpetuate the memory of those veterans who have sacrificed for the nation. The 

seal’s colors are derived from the American flag and the natural colors of the earth, 

representing the Nation’s commitment to its veterans. 

In order to maintain the appreciation and respect of the Seal, VA has specific guidelines 

for use of the Seal. The Seal may only be used in an official capacity. You will never see 

the official Seal on souvenir or novelty items, toys, gifts, matchbook covers or 

calendars. These unauthorized uses of the Seal may result in criminal prosecution. 

Just as a logo is synonymous with a specific company, the Seal is synonymous with the 

Department of Veterans Affairs. Any time you see the Seal, you can bet VA is close by.
 

The Origin of the VA Motto 

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address 

As the nation braced itself for the final throes of the Civil War, thousands of spectators 

gathered on a muddy Pennsylvania Avenue near the U.S. Capitol to hear President 

Lincoln’s second inaugural address. It was March 4, 1865, a time of great uneasiness. 

In just over one month, the war would end and the president would be assassinated. 

President Lincoln framed his speech on the moral and religious implications of the war; 

rhetorically questioning how a just God could unleash such a terrible war upon the 

nation. “If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses in the 

providence of God, ... and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the 

woe due to those by whom the offenses came.” 

With its deep philosophical insights, critics have hailed the speech as one of Lincoln’s 

best. 

As the speech progressed, President Lincoln turned from the divisive bitterness at the 

war’s roots to the unifying task of reconciliation and reconstruction. In the speech’s final 

paragraph, the president delivered his prescription for the nation’s recovery: 

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as 

God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, 

to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the 

battle and for his widow, and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and 

cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” 
With the words, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his 

widow, and his orphan,” President Lincoln affirmed the government’s obligation 

to care for those injured during the war and to provide for the families of those 

who perished on the battlefield. 

Today, a pair of metal plaques bearing those words flank the entrance to the 

Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA is 

the federal agency responsible for serving the needs of veterans by providing 

health care, disability compensation and rehabilitation, education assistance, 

home loans, burial in a national cemetery, and other benefits and services. 

Lincoln’s immortal words became the VA motto in 1959, when the plaques were 

installed, and can be traced to Sumner G. Whittier, administrator of what was 

then called the Veterans Administration. A document on VA medical history 

prepared for the congressional Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and titled, “To 

care for him who shall have borne the battle,” details how the words became 

VA’s motto. “He (Whittier) worked no employee longer or harder than himself to 

make his personal credo the mission of the agency. What was that credo? 

Simply the words of Abraham Lincoln, to care for him who shall have borne the 

battle and for his widow, and his orphan. To indicate the mission of his agency’s 

employees, Mr. Whittier had plaques installed on either side of the main 

entrance.” 

President Lincoln’s words have stood the test of time, and stand today as a 

solemn reminder of VA’s commitment to care for those injured in our nation’s 

defense and the families of those killed in its service. 
 

The National Cemetery Administration

National cemeteries in the United States for military veterans and service members 

began during the Civil War, near the battlefields, military hospitals and campgrounds of 

the war. On July 17, 1862, President Lincoln signed legislation authorizing the federal 

government to purchase ground for use as national cemeteries “for soldiers who shall 

have died in the service of the country.” Up to then, the dead were hastily buried in 

fields, churchyards, or close to hospitals or prison camps where they died. 

After the war, Army crews searched the countryside to find and rebury the Union dead 

in the original 14 national cemeteries. The remains of Confederate prisoners of war 

were included, although it was not until 1906 that legislation approved marking their 

graves with headstones. The re-interment process took five years and resulted in 

establishing 50 more cemeteries to hold a quarter-million remains. They were reburied 

with honor. The new cemeteries were enclosed by brick walls and entered through 

ornate gates. However, the identities of nearly half of the Union dead who are buried in 

national cemeteries are unknown. A few of the national cemeteries developed around 

Union prisoner of war camps, where a large numbers of Confederate soldiers died. 

Eight years after the war ended, Congress opened national cemeteries to all honorably 

discharged veterans of the Union forces. Legislation after World War I opened them to 

American veterans of all wartime service. Finally, after World War II, Congress 

expanded eligibility for burial to all veterans of U.S. armed forces, American war 

veterans of allied armed forces and veterans’ spouses and dependent children. 

From their founding until 1973, national cemeteries were operated by the Department of 

the Army. Today, the National Cemetery Administration is part of the Department of 

Veterans Affairs (VA). VA operates national cemeteries throughout the United States 

and Puerto Rico. The Department of the Interior and the Department of the Army also 

administer several national cemeteries, including Arlington National Cemetery near 

Washington, D.C. 

Veterans of every conflict in which the U.S. participated — from the Revolutionary War 

to the Gulf — are buried in VA’s national cemeteries. In addition to providing a 

gravesite, VA provides a headstone or marker, and perpetually cares for the grave at no 

cost to the veteran’s family or heirs. 

HISTORICAL FIGURES BURIED IN VA NATIONAL CEMETERIES 
President Zachary Taylor, at the cemetery named for him near Louisville, Ky. 

The Union’s “Andrews’ Raiders” who seized a Confederate train and were later caught 

by Confederates and executed, at Chattanooga, Tenn., National Cemetery. 

Florena Budwin, wife of a Pennsylvania soldier of the Civil War, who disguised herself 

as a man and enlisted in the Union Army. She was captured and imprisoned at 

Florence, S.C., where her identity was revealed. She remained at the prison to care for 

Union soldiers, finally dying of illness in 1865. Buried at Florence, South Carolina 

National Cemetery. 

Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet in World War II, at 

Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, Calif. 

Ernie Pyle, veteran of World War I, famed World War II correspondent, at National 

Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, along with all 848 unknowns from the 

Korean War (except one at Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery). 
Military Songs Inspire Troops, Preserve Tradition

Each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces maintains its own military marching band to 

inspire troops and preserve tradition. Though they now serve ceremonial functions, 

these bands were once an integral element on the battlefield. To increase the morale 

and courage of the men, bands would march in front of formations as they entered 

battle. Yet, as the number of musicians dwindled, commanders delegated marching 

bands to the rear of the formation, behind the combat-ready troops. Today, bands are 

no longer involved in armed conflict, but continue to inspire troops through song or 

hymn that represent the individual histories and traditions of America’s Armed Forces. 

“The Army Goes Rolling Along” 

Before “The Caisson Song” was adopted as the official 

tune of the U.S. Army, it was the proud anthem of the 

U.S. Field Artillery Corps. During a long march in the 

Philippines, Lieutenant Edmund L. “Snitz” Gruber 

overheard an officer roar “Come on! Keep ‘em Rolling!” 

Gruber, whose relative, Franz, composed the Christmas 

Song “Silent Night,” was suddenly inspired and that night 

wrote the now-famous melody. Fellow soldiers helped 

with the lyrics and in almost no time, all six regiments of 

the U.S. Field Artillery had adopted “The Caisson Song” 

as a popular marching tune. 

During the last days of World War I, senior artillery leaders wanted to make “The 

Caisson Song” official, and mistaking the piece as composed during the Civil War, 

allowed bandmaster John Phillip Sousa to incorporate most of the song into his own 

composition “The U.S. Field Artillery March.” The song became a chart-topper during 

World War I, selling 750,000 copies. Discovering Gruber actually wrote the melody, an 

embarrassed but innocent Sousa made certain Gruber received his royalties. In 1948, 

the Army held a nationwide contest to find an official song. After four years of 

unsuccessful results and nearly 800 submitted scores, the Adjunct General’s office 

decided to recycle “The Caisson Song.” H.W. Arberg arranged the U.S. Army song, 

naming it “The Army Goes Rolling Along.” The Army copyrighted the song in 1956. 
The “Marines’ Hymn” 

An unlikely venue hosted the debut of a tune many now 

associate with the Marines’ Hymn. In the city of Paris, 

France, Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) wrote and 

conducted opera and opera-bouffe (comic and farcical 

opera). Most believe the melody of the Marines’ Hymn 

was, in fact, taken from an aria in “Genevieve de 

Brabant” composed by Offenbach. This tune was 

morphed to fit the now famous lines “From the Halls of 

Montezuma, To the Shores of Tripoli.” 

According to tradition, an officer wrote the first verse of 

the Hymn on duty in the Mexican War (1846-1848). 

Meant to highlight the various campaigns of the Marines, the unknown author edited the 

words from the Marines’ colors and added them to Offenbach’s melody. Continuing the 

custom, every campaign the Marines participate in gives birth to a new, unofficial verse. 

Copyright ownership of the Marines’ Hymn was vested to the U.S. Marine Corps in 

1991, although its first use as the Marines’ official anthem was in 1929. 

U.S. Navy “Anchors Aweigh” 

In an attempt to write a catchy tune to rally the Naval 

Academy’s football team, “Anchors Aweigh” was born. 

Lieutenant Charles A. Zimmerman, the U.S. Navy 

bandmaster from 1887 to 1916, started the practice of 

composing a march for each graduating class. 

However, none of these tunes really caught on

Zimmerman was approached by Midshipman Alfred Hart 

Miles to write a “piece of music that would be inspiring, 

one with swing to it so it could be used as a football 

marching song, and one that would live forever.” 

. In 1906, 

Together, Zimmerman and Hart composed the tune and 

lyrics that became “Anchors Aweigh,” dedicated to the class of 1907. The new fight 

song indeed propelled Navy to a win that year over Army. The march was subsequently 

adopted as the official Navy song and continues to inspire classes of Naval Academy 

Midshipmen. 
“The U.S. Air Force” 

In 1938, the Army Air Corps decided they needed an 

official song. Liberty Magazine sponsored a contest 

whereby 757 scores were submitted. Of those, one 

written by Robert Crawford was selected by a committee 

of Air Corps wives and officially introduced at the 

Cleveland Air Races in 1939. Crawford himself sang it 

in its first public performance. When the Army Air Corp

became a separate branch of the military in 1947, 

Crawford’s march changed names from “The Army Air 

Corps” to the “U.S. Air Force.” 

s 

Since that time, the first line of “Nothing’ll Stop the U.S. 

Air Force” became a motto and tradition. On July 30, 1971, the original first page 

submitted by Robert Crawford in 1939 was carried into space in the Apollo 15 “Falcon” 

and broadcast to the world by Major Alfred W. Worden, who had a tape recorder aboard 

the “Endeavor” command module. The “All-Air Force” crew arranged to take the sheet 

music with them as a tribute to Crawford and the U.S. Air Force. 

The U.S. Coast Guard and “Semper Paratus” 

The Coast Guard’s motto of Semper Paratus or “always 

ready” was officially recognized in 1910, and thenceforth 

appeared on the ensign. However, no one really knows 

how Semper Paratus was chosen as the Coast Guard’s 

“phrase” and watchword prior to its formal acceptance. 

Whatever the case, in 1922, Captain Francis S. Van 

Boskerck was inspired to write an official U.S. Coast 

Guard song that would rival “Anchor’s Aweigh” or “The 

Caisson Song.” While in the cabin of his cutter 

Yamacraw, which was stationed in Savannah, Ga., 

Boskerck put pen to paper and the lyrics for “Semper 

Paratus” were born. Five years later, while stationed in the Aleutian Islands, Boskerck 

composed the accompanying music on a dilapidated old piano in Unalaska, Alaska. The 

geographically diverse origins of this piece are fittingly illustrated in the song’s first line 

“From Aztec shore to Arctic Zone, To Europe and Far East...” Semper Paratus remains 

the proud standard and song of the United States Coast Guard.