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Excerpts from the United States Code-Patriotic Customs (Title 36, Chapter
10)
173. Display and use of flag by civilians: codification of rules and
customs; definition
The following codification of existing rules and customs pertaining to the
display and use of the flag of the United States of America is established
for the use of such civilians or civilian groups or organizations as may
not be required to conform with regulations promulgated by one or more
executive departments of the Government of the United States. The flag of
the United States for the purpose of this chapter shall be defined
according to the Title 4, United States Code, chapter 1 section 1, and
section 2 and Executive Order 10834 issued pursuant thereto.
174. Time and occasions for display
(a) It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to
sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However,
when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four
hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
(b) The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
(c) The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is
inclement, except when an all weather flag is displayed.
(d) The flag should be displayed on all days, especially on
New Year's Day - January 1
Inauguration Day - January 20
Lincoln's Birthday - February 12
Washington's Birthday - third Monday in February
Easter Sunday - (variable)
Mother's Day - second Sunday in May
Armed Forces Day - third Saturday in May
Memorial Day (half-staff until noon) - last Monday in May
Flag Day - June 14
Independence Day - July 4
Patriots Day - September 11, Displayed at half-staff from sunrise until
sunset.
Labor Day - first Monday - September 17
Columbus Day - second Monday in October
Navy Day - October 27
Veterans Day - November 11
Thanksgiving Day - fourth Thursday in November
Christmas Day - December 25
Other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States
Birthdays of States (date of admission)
State holidays(e) The flag should be
displayed daily on or near the main administration building of every
public institution.
(f) The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on
election days.
(g) The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every
schoolhouse.
175. Position and manner of display
The flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags, should
be either on the marching right; that is, the flag's own right, or, if
there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line.
(a) The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade except from a
staff, or as provided in subsection (i) of this section.
(b) The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a
vehicle or of a railroad train or a boat. When the flag is displayed on a
motorcar, the staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the
right fender.
(c) No other flag or pennant should be placed above, or, if on the same
level, to the right of the flag of the United States of America, except
during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when the
church pennant may be flown above the flag during church services for the
personnel of the Navy. No person shall display the flag of the United
Nations or any other national or international flag equal, above, or in a
position of superior prominence or honor to, or in place of, the flag of
the United States at any place within the United States or any Territory
or possession of thereof: Provided, that nothing in this section shall
make unlawful the continuance of the practice heretofore followed of
displaying the flag of the United Nations in a position of superior
prominence or honor, and other national flags in positions of equal
prominence or honor, with that of the flag of the United States at the
headquarters of the United Nations.
(d) The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with
another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right,
the flag's own right, and its staff should be in front of the staff of the
other flag.
(e) The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and
at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or
localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
(f) When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies
are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the
latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are flown from
adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and
lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the
United States or to the United States flag's right.
(g) When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown
from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of
approximately equal sized. International usage forbids the display of the
flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.
(h) When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff
projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or
front of a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of
the staff unless the flag is at half staff. When the flag is suspended
over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge
of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the
building.
(i) When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the
union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the
observer's left. When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed
in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left of the observer
in the street.
(j) When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be
suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west
street or to the east in a north and south street.
(k) When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should
be displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in
a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America
should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the
audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's
right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be
placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to the right of the
audience.
(l) The flag should form a distinctive feature of the ceremony of
unveiling a statue or monument, but it should never be used as the
covering for the statue or monument.
(m) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the
peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag
should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On
Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only,
then raised to the top of the staff. By order of the President, the flag
shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the
United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or
possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event of the
death of a present or former official of the government of any State,
territory, or possession of the United States, the Governor of that State,
territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall be
flown at half-staff. The flag shall be flown at half-staff thirty days
from the death of the President or a former President; ten days from the
death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice
of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from
the day of death until internment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice
President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on
the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress.
(n) When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that
the union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not
be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.
(o) When the flag is suspended across a corridor or lobby in a building
with only one main entrance, it should be suspended vertically with the
union of the flag to the observer's left upon entering. If the building
has more than one main entrance, the flag should be suspended vertically
near the center of the corridor or lobby with the union to the north, when
entrances are to the east and west or to the east when entrances are to
the north and south. If there are entrances in more than two directions,
the union should be to the east.
176. Respect for the Flag
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America;
the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors,
State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a
mark of honor.
(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a
signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or
property.
(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground,
the floor, water, or merchandise.
(c) The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always
aloft and free.
(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery.
It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always
allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red always arranged with
the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used
for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and for
decoration in general.
(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such
a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
(f) The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
(g) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor
attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture,
or drawing of any nature.
(h) The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding,
carrying, or delivering anything.
(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner
whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or
handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkin
or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard.
Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which
the flag is flown.
(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic
uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military
personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. The
flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.
Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica should be worn on the left
lapel near the heart.
(k) The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting
emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by
burning.
177. Conduct during hoisting, lowering or passing flag
During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is
passing in a parade or in review, all persons present except those in
uniform should face the flag and stand at attention with the right hand
over the heart. Those present in uniform should render the military
salute. When not in uniform, men should remove their headdress with their
right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the
heart. Aliens should stand at attention. The salute to the flag in a
moving column should be rendered at the moment the flag passes.
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