Uncle Sam’s gravesite, located at Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, N.Y., has a new 40-foot flagpole and a fresh American flag to go with it, thanks to a windstorm and Gettysburg Flag Works of East Greenbush. The installation is perfectly timed: 2016 marks the 150th anniversary of Uncle Sam’s birth. Oakwood describes itself as “one of… continue
The British author Rudyard Kipling liked flags, but not Utah. The state doesn’t care because, for one thing, it’s more interested in marking the 120th anniversary of its entry into the United States on Jan. 4, 1896. It’s also interested in its state flag, which was wrong for years. Kipling wrote a poem titled “The… continue
“How’dja like to spend Christmas on Christmas Island?” Those are the opening lyrics to an old pop song, sung by crooner Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters in the 1940s, folk artist Leon Redbone more recently, and even Jimmy Buffet. But none of them performed it while waving the Christmas Island flag. They’re both real… continue
In December 1845 – 170 years ago – Texas joined the United States, bringing with it a state flag and later adding a municipal flag for its capital. If that’s not sufficient, there’s also a college flag for one of Texas’s many institutions of higher education. STATE FLAG The Texas state banner, created six years… continue
The approach of Christmas and Hanukkah provides an opportunity to give friends and family members a flag, especially if they are now – or once were – in the military. The options are many in a year when three branches of the military are marking a significant anniversary: U.S. MARINES The U.S. Marine Corps was… continue