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Story
of the Old Glory (American Flag)
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The
Pledge of Allegiance:
I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. - USFlag.org
US
Flag Facts
Evolution
of the United States Flag: No one knows with absolute certainty
who designed the first stars and stripes or who made it. Congressman
Francis Hopkinson seems most likely to have designed it, and
few historians believe that Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress,
made the first one. Read
More
Flag of
the United States, popularly called the American flag, consists
of 13 horizontal stripes, 7 red alternating with 6 white,
and in the upper corner near the staff, a rectangular blue
field, or canton, containing 50 five-pointed white stars.
The stripes symbolize the 13 colonies that originally constituted
the United States of America. The stars represent the present
50 states of the Union.
The 50
stars design is w.e.f July 4, 1960, as Hawaii became 50th
state on August 21, 1959.
The American
Flag has a name: "Old Glory". Other nicknames are
"Star-Spangled Banner", "Stars And Strips"
and "Red-White-Blue".
Significance
of the colors
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The
color red represents valor, fervency and zeal.
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The
color white is for hope, purity, rectitude and cleanliness
of life.
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The
color blue is for heaven, reverence to God, justice and
truth.
June 14
is now observed as Flag Day throughout the United States.
On Memorial
Day, the flag should be hung at half-mast until noon, when
it should be raised to the top of the staff.
Post Sept
11th 2001, we are seeing the flag more often and at every
conceivable place. Believe it or not, my using Discover credit
card which is having the US flag design, brought a glow on
people's face during the troubled-times we Indians faced in
some parts of the US. I was at Maryland at that time and not
much trouble there.
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