How to Fly the United States Flag
Ten Guidelines
1. The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
2. The flag is never allowed to touch the ground or the floor.
3. When hung over a sidewalk on a rope extending from a building to a pole, the union stars are
always away from the building.
4. When vertically hung over the center of the street, the flag always has the union stars to the
north in an east/west street, and to the east in a north/south street.
5. The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the
group when a number of flags of states or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and
displayed from staffs.
6. The flag should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds but always allowed to fall free.
7. The flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day then raised to the top of
the staff.
8. Never fly the flag upside down except as a signal of distress in instances of extreme danger to
life or property.
9. The flag is never flown in inclement weather except when using an all-weather flag.
10. The flag can be flown every day from sunrise to sunset and at night if illuminated properly.
Flag Display Days
New Year's Day - January 1
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - 3rd Monday in January
Lincoln's Birthday - February 12
Washington's Birthday (President's Day) - 3rd Monday in February
Easter Sunday
Mother's Day - 2nd Sunday in May
Peace Officers Memorial Day (half-staff) - May 15
Armed Forces Day - 3rd Saturday in May
Memorial Day (half staff until noon) - last Monday in May
Flag Day - June 14
Father's day - 3rd Sunday in June
Independence Day - July 4
Labor Day - 1st Monday in September
Patriot Day (half staff) September 11
POW/MIA Recognition Day - 3rd Friday in September
Constitution Day (Citizenship Day) - September 17
Columbus Day - 2nd Monday in October
Navy Day - October 27
Veterans Day - November 11
Thanksgiving Day - 4th Thursday in November
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (half staff) - December 7
Christmas - December 25
and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States; the birthdays of
states (date of admission); and on state holidays.
"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."