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All citizens should know how to display their country's flag, since owning a flag and displaying it properly are marks of patriotism and respect. The first code on the proper display of the US flag was passed by Congress in 1942, and has been amended several times. Most recently, it was changed to prohibit the displaying of the flag on the floor or ground. Below are several basic guidelines for displaying the US flag. During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag, or when the flag is passing in parade, all persons should face the flag, stand at attention and salute. A man should remove his hat and hold it with the right hand over the heart. Men without hats and women salute by placing the right hand over the heart. The salute to the flag in the moving column should be rendered at the moment the flag passes. When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above another nation in time and place. When the US 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 to a pole, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building. When the US flag is displayed other than from a staff, it should be displayed flat, or so suspended 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 displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the US flag should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to the right of the audience. The US flag, when carried in a procession with another or other flags, should be either on the marching right (the flag's own right) or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line. Never display the US flag from a float except from a staff, or so suspended that its folds fall free as though staffed. The US flag, when displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the US flag's own right, and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag. The US flag should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs. When other flags are flown from the same halyard, the US flag should always be at the peak. When other flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the US flag should be hoisted first and lowered last. No flag may fly above or to the right of the US flag. If displayed flat against the wall on a speaker's platform, the US flag should be placed above and behind the speaker with the union of the flag in the upper left-hand corner as the audience faces the flag. When the US flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground. The flag, when flown at half staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for a moment and than lowered to the half staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. In Addition.... |