Flag Etiquette Isn’t Just for the Ones Holding It.
By Garrett Christensen on Monday, July 31st, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
NORTHEAST OREGON – It is not hyperbolic to state the flag of the United States holds just as much if not more cultural and national significance than any founding document. It makes sense then that such an important symbol would have an equally important set of rules on how people should act while it’s being formally displayed and handled. Though proper behavior in the presence of the stars and stripes may seem trivial at times, especially given how common a sight the flag can be, adherence to proper etiquette demonstrates a significant, and some may argue minimal, amount of respect to the flag and everything it stands for. Proper flag etiquette during parades, as explained by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) is as follows:
- “When an American Flag passes:
- Stand up.
- Remove your hat.
- Place your right hand over your heart.
- Stop any conversations you are having.
- If a Flag is carried by an honor guard or in a group with other flags, stand up and salute (veterans) or pay respect to the flag.
- Note it is not necessary to salute every American flag that passes:
- Do not salute small hand-held flags carried by parade attendees.
- Teach your children to respect our nation’s flag. If they are given a small flag, please do not throw it on the ground or in the street.”
The final point about teaching respect has some within the community both concerned and frustrated. Commander of VFW Post 4060, Ed Tibbs, commented that, during some events and parades, many attendees don’t even bother to make an effort to show respect, explaining:
“As a group, we have witnessed people who completely disregard the flag going by. We cover most of the events in Union County. One thing is people will…they seem to not have the energy to get out of their lounge chair when the flag goes by. When you raise the flag at stationary event there’s somebody singing the national anthem and people have a tendency to not stop what they’re doing.”
This is in contrast to the atmosphere present in the armed forces, where nearly all activity stops and anyone that can see the flag or at least hear the ceremony pays their respects. While this isn’t the expected level of rigidity for casual public events, the lack of care shown by some comes off disheartening to those that still carry the flag. Dave Matott, post commander for the American Legion, recalled instances of attendees continuing to talk or simply zoning out on their phones as the flag passed.
This frustration over lack of care extends beyond just behavior during events as well. According to Matott, during last year’s VFW flag retirement ceremony, only a single member of the community that wasn’t part of the ceremony team attended. Regardless of the reason for this atmosphere of apathy, be it a lack of reverence taught in schools, too many distractions, or simply a lack of care among some groups, simple politeness and few seconds of silence shouldn’t bee seen as an insurmountable task.
