THE AMERICAN FLAG: THE FLAG CODE

Design, use and display of the flat of the United States are dictated by federal law. The American Legion offers a pamphlet explaining the entire flag code. Here are some parts of the law.

-- The United States flag should be displayed from sunrise to sunset on buildings and in the open, particularly at administration or public buildings. For patriotic effect, the flag can be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated.

-- The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously. It should never touch anything beneath it, like the ground, floor, water or merchandise.

-- The flag should not be displayed during inclement weather unless an all-weather flag is displayed.

-- The flag should be displayed in or near polling places on election days.

-- When displaying the flag during a parade, it should be carried on the marching right or in the front of the center line of other flags. It should not be displayed on a float except from a staff.

-- No other flag or pennant should be placed above the Unites States flag, except during church services conducted by a Navy chaplain at sea when the church pennant may be flown above the flag during a service for Navy personnel.

-- When displayed with other flags against a wall, the U.S. flag should be on the right and its staff should be in front of the staff of another flag.

-- The flag should be at the center and the highest point in the group when national, state or local flags are displayed together.

-- The flag should be hoisted out, union first, from a building when it is suspended from a rope over a sidewalk.

-- The flag should be placed at the peak of the staff, unless it is at half mast, when it is shown from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from a window sill, balcony or the front of a building.

Proper respect for the flag:

-- The flag should never be displayed with the union, or stars, down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger.

-- The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free. It should never be drawn back, up or in folds.

-- The flag, when it is no longer fit for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.

Standard proportions of the flag:

hoist or width: 1.0

fly or length: 1.9

hoist of union: 7/13

fly of union: .76

diameter of star .06/16

width of stripe: 1/13