Who Wears the Flag?
In the spirit of Flag Day, we did a little research about the American Flag worn on the sleeves of certain uniforms. Have you ever wondered why it’s there or who deserves to wear it?
According to the United States American Flag Code, it is inappropriate to wear the American Flag as a costume or athletic uniforms. The flag patch is for military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. Now this code was established a long time ago, so there has been a little bit of flexibility with this. It is inappropriate to fashion an outfit out of an actual American Flag, but wearing a shirt with the image on it is ok.
Let’s go back to uniforms. Have you ever noticed that the flag appears to be backwards on the right side of military uniforms? In our research we discovered that this is because the blue field of stars should always be in the highest position of honor. Meaning, on a moving arm the highest position of honor is the front. Pretty neat, huh?
Flag Day is a small holiday but the meaning behind it is pretty extraordinary. The United States American Flag Code was created because at the time, “the flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.”
