Flag Day

Today is Flag Day for those of us in our United States. We hold our flag in high honor on this and all days but do you know how the flag and the official day came about?

It began In 1777 when the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that “the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and that “the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

You may believe that Betsy Ross was responsible for designing this first American flag.  The confirmed truth is however that a delegate from New Jersey who signed the Declaration of Independence designed it.  His name was Francis Hopkinson.

Reading a bit more you’ll discover that the official holiday came many years later. It was 1916 when Woodrow Wilson decided to designate June 14th as the official Flag Day.

The basic configuration of the flag has stayed the same over the years but there have been some revisions.

In the 1950’s when Alaska looked to be incorporated many people worked on designing it’s addition to the flag.

A seventeen year old boy from Ohio named Bob Heft is actually responsible for a new flag design.  It was a class project and in order to recreate a star design with fifty states he used his mother’s sewing machine. 

He turned the project in to his teacher and he also sent it to his congressman.  Once the states of Alaska and Hawaii officially joined the US the new design was presented to President Eisenhower.  

In 1960, Bob’s design was adopted and when the first new flag was raised Bob Heft was present with President Eisenhower when it was raised. 
Private Home Health Care has great respect for the flag of our country.  We honor it on this day each year.