Flag Day Ceremony at VFW

This past Sunday on June 14th, the VFW Post 988 held their annual Flag Day Ceremony at their branch located at 705 Roosevelt. The ceremony was held outside where it started with a warm welcome, thanking everyone who had come out from the community to take part in the ceremony. The Pledge of Allegiance was followed by the "Star Spangled Banner", our national anthem, with all 4 verses intact. In today's society, the last verse is often left out, however; it is a very important verse and can be read here.

An opening prayer then was held in remembrance, followed by "God Bless America". The ceremony commenced with community members and families forming a line and picking up flags and slowly approaching the grave site for the flags where they laid them in the earth. VFW Color Guard formed two rows for people to walk down the formed aisle, saluting the flags and their carriers as they passed through. Every year, a new plot is dug where flags are buried. The VFW has approximately 8-10 plots from these ceremonies.

After the procession had delivered all of the flags, "Taps" was played and people were encouraged to stay for refreshments and to catch up and socialize. Their program goes into detail about the creation of our United States Flag. It reads " On June 14, 1777, the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress adopted a resolution that gave birth to our national flag. The resolution read: "Resolved that the flag of the United States be made of 13 stripes, alternate red and white, that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.""

We have come a long way from the original 13 colonies back in 1777, however, we continue to grow and learn as a society, and remain standing strong on the pillars that founded this great country we live in. To see some of the photos taken at the event, click here.You can see some video from the ceremony here.


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