Voters are voting, candidates are campaigning, and reporters are recording. It’s the year of a presidential election, and a new chief executive will move into the White House next January. But one thing will remain consistent: American flags displayed inside and waving outside the most famous home in the nation. The following stories, listed chronologically,… continue
Forty years ago, on April 25, 1976, just weeks before America would mark the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence, a Chicago Cubs centerfielder made an immortal catch that didn’t involve catching a baseball. Instead, it rescued an American flag. That afternoon, Rick Monday snatched the star-spangled banner from two protestors who had squirted lighter… continue
Ninety years ago, teenagers around the U.S. received a check to reward their love for the American flag. It happened because they entered a contest sponsored by The American Legion Weekly. Another contest, held three years later, sent winners around the globe. Under the heading, “Wanted: A Patriot’s Flag Creed,” the Legion invited “millions of… continue
A few years after the Civil War ended, a multi-volume opus was written. Titled “The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 1861-’65,” it bulged with case studies, surgical breakthroughs – and some flags, one of which was a person. FLAGG One of the breakthroughs involved Corporal Eugene Flagg, a member of… continue
Firefighters, like other Americans, love flags, but that doesn’t mean they’re always ready to rescue one. As an example, take the curious case of a banner that flew away a century ago. An American flag outside the Grand Army of the Republic post in Springfield, Massachusetts, was blown off its mast by a strong windstorm… continue