What is Stars for our Troops?

The Stars for our Troops program takes your old, tattered and worn out American Flags and turns them into a prized possession for an American Soldier at home, on base or overseas. Volunteers lovingly cut each embroidered star from the flag, dispose of the stripes properly, and place each star into a tiny plastic bag with a card.

The card reads:

"I am part of our American flag that has flown over a home in the U.S.A. I can no longer fly. The sun and winds have caused me to become tattered and torn. Please carry me as a reminder that you are not forgotten"

 

Each American Flag can touch the lives of 50 American Soldiers even after it's reached the end of it's flying days!

How can you help?

1. Send us your old American Flag with embroidered stars. We will see that they are cleaned and each embroidered star makes it's way to an American Soldier. To save on shipping, collect your neighbors' flags too, and send them all at once.  For large shipments, please call us in advance.  It helps schedule volunteers to help process them.

 

Attn: Stars for our Troops

Gettysburg Flag Works

715 Columbia Turnpike

East Greenbush, NY 12061

2. Link to this page and tell your friends. There is an ongoing need for these stars as we have troops leaving for combat all the time, and returning home where they need to integrate back into society. Places that might get the most exposure are facebook, twitter, blogs or personal websites. Emails are great too! Click here for a flyer that you can post at work, at the gym or bring to your local veteran organization.

Event Photos & Updates

November 17, 2011

Cheryl,  Thank you so much for helping us out west here get started with this program.  I have presented three stars and I am overwhelmed with the response and gratitude of those who receive them.  It astounds me that I can so affect someone by doing something so small.
Dave

November 16, 2011

Schenectady — Those who served at Kingsway Community didn’t feel forgotten on Veterans Day.

#Nearly 40 veterans, all Kingsway residents and staff, were honored during the Kingsway Arms Nursing Center’s ceremony on Friday, Nov. 11.

#The ceremony started off with a Presentation of Colors by members of the VFW Post 357 and was followed by members of the Church of Nazarene singing the “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America.” Each honored veteran was individually named and placed a large star with their name on to a “service flag.” Then Susan Wells, from the Stars for our Troops group, handed out stars cut from a retired American flag.  Read More...

November 15, 2011

November 5, 2011

11-1030---FIRST DISTRIBUTION OF STARS FOR OUR TROOPS (by Major Stuart Adam Wolfer Institute)

This past Sunday-mid morning, IHO Veterans Day the Patriot Guard Riders of So. Palm Beach County FL were staged in Boca anticipating their ride north to the Riviera Beach VA Hospital where they would be staying the day to share activities with fellow Veterans.

It was here that we mingled among the men & women distributing to them our first completed packets, Stars For Our Troops. They were most appreciative to receive these "Stars" & we were so honored to shake their hands, & so comfortable to visit/talk with them...most from Vietnam, and even a gentleman from WWII who just a few months ago had been on the escorted flight to WDC to see the WW II Memorial.

We have just a few days til Nov. 11th--join us in remembering, posting on your FB pages, doing something each day that acknowledges Our Vets. Our Veterans are very unique individuals----do let them know.

Esther & Len Wolfer
www.msawi.org

October 22, 2011

April 21, 2011

Q: Has anyone ever cut the flag before?

A: Yes, Here's a few examples:

Excerpt from "The North Pole," by Robert E. Peary

Of course there were some more or less informal ceremonies connected with our arrival at our difficult destination, but they were not of a very elaborate character. We planted five flags at the top of the world. The first one was a silk American flag which Mrs. Peary gave me fifteen years ago. That flag has done more traveling in high latitudes than any other ever made. I carried it wrapped about my body on every one of my expeditions northward after it came into my possession, and I left a fragment of it at each of my successive "farthest norths": Cape Morris K. Jesup, the northernmost point of land in the known world; Cape Thomas Hubbard, the northernmost known point of Jesup Land, west of Grant Land; Cape Columbia, the northernmost point of North American lands; and my farthest north in 1906, latitude 87° 6´ in the ice of the polar sea. By the time it actually reached the Pole, therefore, it was somewhat worn and discolored.

In 1909 Robert Peary placed a flag, sewn by his wife, at the North Pole. He also left pieces of another flag along the way. It is the only time a person has been honored for cutting the flag.
 
What was "souveniring?"

After a battle, a tattered flag might be retired and cut apart. The snippets were given to soldiers who had fought under the flag. The soldier took his piece home as a remembrance of the battle and of the valor of fellow soldiers who died there.

http://www.hal.state.mi.us/mhc/museum/explore/museums/hismus/special/flags/flaginfo.html

The Flag that was seen by Francis Scott Key

For his leadership in defending the fort, Armistead was promoted to brevet Lieutenant Colonel and acquired the garrison flag sometime before his death in 1818. A few weeks after the battle, he had granted the wishes of a soldier's widow for a piece of the flag to bury with her husband. In succeeding years, he cut off additional pieces to gratify the similar wishes of others; the flag itself was seen only on rare occasions.

When Commodore George H. Preble, U.S. Navy, was preparing a history of the American flag, he borrowed the Star-Spangled Banner from a descendant of Colonel Armistead, and, in 1873, photographed it for the first time. In preparation for that event, a canvas backing was attached to it; soon thereafter, it was put in storage until the Smithsonian borrowed it and placed it on exhibit in 1907.

The flag had become a popular attraction; in 1912, the owner, Eben Appleton, of New York, believing that the flag should be kept in the National Museum, donated it to the Smithsonian on the condition that it would remain there forever. Once in its possession, the Smithsonian hired an expert flag restorer to remove the old backing and sew on a new one to prevent damage during display.

The Star-Spangled Banner remained in the Arts and Industries Building (the old National Museum) as the new National Museum was constructed across the Mall. In 1964, when the Museum of American History opened, the flag was moved to a prominent place inside the museum's Mall entrance, an awe-inspiring testament to our nation's independence.

http://www.150.si.edu/chap3/flag.htm
 
Another well-known example is the so-called "Green Mountain Boys" flag that is said to have been carried by the New Hampshire troops at the battle of Bennington during the Revolutionary War. (I say "so called" because there is an obvious disconnect in the legend -- the "Green Mountain Boys" were not from New Hampshire!) Originally, the flag had a union of stars and a green field. Now, it consists of the union only with a very small fringe of green cloth. The story is that General John Stark cut up the rest and gave pieces out to his men after the battle.

This article is interesting - http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-08-30-flag-mystery_x.htm
especially as  On Sept. 23, the same flag appeared at a service at Yankee Stadium, where it was signed by Gov. George Pataki, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the fire and police commissioners. Then it was flown off to the Roosevelt.
We aren't supposed to sign any flag - so why did they??? and where???
interesting reading: http://seacoastnh.com/jpj/stafford.html

April 30, 2011. The girl scouts of troop 1725 from Averill Park helped to cut and prepare stars for the program at the Salem United Methodist Church in West Sand Lake. Thanks Ladies!!!

April 27, 2011 - We just got the most wonderful American flag in to join our Stars for our Troops program! It's from the Tucson Electric Power Company in Arizona. Included with the flag is a letter talking about each time the flag had been flown at half staff during it's lifetime. This flag was lowered for the victims of the shooting near Tucson on 1/8/11 and for Frank Buckles, the last American WWI veteran. Also included are the names and address of about a dozen American soldiers who will receive a star from that flag with a copy of the letter. Heartwarming!

April 8, 2011 - We've collected 33 American Flags this week alone! That's 1650 stars... or the potential to say THANK YOU to 1650 Solders and Veterans. WOW! Thanks to everyone who has sent in a flag or passed the word!