Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 14th, 2016) is Flag Day – the day our country commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States and many people celebrate by flying their flags high and proud.
But a couple of interesting questions present themselves when you consider that the country is in a period of national mourning for the victims of the Orlando, Florida tragedy. Do we still fly our flags as high and mighty as we normally would tomorrow and if so, how do we observe both the holiday and a mourning period if we don’t have a flag that can be lowered?
There appear to be two solutions, flag experts say:
- In an instance where a flag cannot be lowered during a period of mourning, it is not considered disrespectful to fly a flag at full height.
- It is also an accepted tradition to attach a black ribbon or streamer to the top of the flagpole as a sign of mourning if a flag can’t fly at half-staff (although that isn’t officially spelled out in the U.S. flag code).
And here’s a final tidbit that might be of interest: you can sign up to receive notifications via email so you’ll know when and why flags are flown at Half-Staff – just CLICK HERE to visit the Half Staff website.
