flag_etiquette

Title 4, chapter 1 of the United States Code governs the design, use and display of
The Flag of the United States of America. The following excerpt is provided and
intended to help educate all persons. Please read and feel free to use the "Contact Us"
page to get answers to any questions you may have.

§ 6 Time and occasions for display

(a) It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on

buildings

and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is

desired, the

flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the

hours of

darkness.

(b) The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.

when an all weather flag is displayed.

(d) The flag should be displayed on all days, especially on

New Year’s Day, January

Inauguration Day, January 20;

Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, third Monday in

January;

Lincoln’s Birthday, February 12;

Washington’s Birthday, third Monday in

February;

Easter Sunday (variable);

Mother’s Day, second Sunday in May;

Armed

Forces Day, third Saturday in May;

Memorial Day (half-staff until noon), the last

Monday in May;

Flag Day, June 14;

Independence Day, July 4;

Labor Day, first

Monday in September;

Constitution Day, September 17;

Columbus Day, second

Monday in October;

Navy Day, October 27;

Veterans Day, November 11;

Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in November;

Christmas Day, 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.

(e) The flag should be displayed daily on or near the main administration building of

every public institution.

(f) The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on election days.

(g) The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every schoolhouse.

§ 7. Position and manner of display
The flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags, should be either on the
marching right; that is, the flag’s own right, or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the
center of that line.

(a) The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade except from a staff, or as

provided in subsection (i) of this section.

(b) The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle or

of a

railroad train or a boat. When the flag is displayed on a motorcar, the staff shall

be fixed

firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.

right

of the flag of the United States of America, except during church services

conducted by

naval chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown above

the flag during

church services for the personnel of the Navy. No person shall display

the flag of the

United Nations or any other national or international flag equal, above,

or in a position of

superior prominence or honor to, or in place of, the flag of the

United States at any

place within the United States or any Territory or possession

thereof: Provided, That

nothing in this section shall make unlawful the continuance of

the practice heretofore

followed of displaying the flag of the United Nations in a

position of superior prominence

or honor, and other national flags in positions of

equal prominence or honor, with that of

the flag of the United States at the

headquarters of the United Nations.

(d) The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with another flag

against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag’s own right, and its

staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.

(e) 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.

(f) When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the

same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the

peak.

When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States

should be

hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed

above the flag of

the United States or to the United States flag’s right.

(g) When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from

separate

staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size.

International

usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another

nation in time of

peace.

(h) When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally

at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the

flag

should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff. When the

flag is

suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at

the edge of

the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.

(i) When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be

uppermost and to the flag’s own right, that is, to the observer’s left. When displayed

in a

window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field

to the

left of the observer in the street.

(j) When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended

vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a

north

and south street.

(k) When used on a speaker’s platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should be displayed

above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a church or public

auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of

superior

prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the

clergyman’s

or speaker’s right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed

should be

placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to the right of the

audience.

(l) The flag should form a distinctive feature of the ceremony of unveiling a statue or

monument, but it should never be used as the covering for the statue or monument.

(m) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an

instant

and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to

the peak

before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be

displayed at half-

staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order of

the President, the

flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures

of the United States

Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or

possession, as a mark of respect

to their memory. In the event of the death of other

officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag

is to be displayed at half-staff according to

Presidential instructions or orders, or in

accordance with recognized customs or

practices not inconsistent with law. In the event

of the death of a present or former

official of the government of any State, territory, or

possession of the United States,

the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may

proclaim that the National

flag shall be flown at half-staff. The flag shall be flown at half-

staff 30 days from the

death of the President or a former President; 10 days from the

day of death of the

Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the

United States, or the

Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death

until interment of an

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an

executive or military

department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State,

territory, or

possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member of

Congress. The flag shall be flown at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day,

unless

that day is also Armed Forces Day. As used in this subsection—

(1) the term “half-staff” means the position of the flag when it is one-half the

distance between the top and bottom of the staff;

(2) the term “executive or military department” means any agency listed under

sections 101 and 102 of title 5, United States Code; and

(3) the term “Member of Congress” means a Senator, a Representative, a

Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.

(n) When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is

the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave

allowed to touch the ground.

(o) When the flag is suspended across a corridor or lobby in a building with only one

main entrance, it should be suspended vertically with the union of the flag to the

observer’s left upon entering. If the building has more than one main entrance, the

flag

should be suspended vertically near the center of the corridor or lobby with the

union to

the north, when entrances are to the east and west or to the east when

entrances are to

the north and south. If there are entrances in more than two

directions, the union should

be to the east.

§ 8. Respect for flag
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not
be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or
institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.

(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of

dire

distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor,

water, or merchandise.

(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should

never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free.

Bunting

of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the

middle,

and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker’s desk, draping

the front of

the platform, and for decoration in general.

(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner

to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.

(f) The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.

(g) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it

any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.

(h) The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or

delivering anything.

(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner

whatsoever. It

should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or

handkerchiefs and the like,

printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or

boxes or anything that is designed

for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs

should not be fastened to a staff or

halyard from which the flag is flown.

(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However,

flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen,

and

members of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is

itself

considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be

worn

on the left lapel near the heart.

(k) The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for

display,

should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.

§ 9. Conduct during hoisting, lowering or passing of flag
During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in a parade or
in review, all persons present except those in uniform should face the flag and stand at
attention with the right hand over the heart. Those present in uniform should render the
military salute. When not in uniform, men should remove their headdress with their right hand
and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Aliens should stand at attention.
The salute to the flag in a moving column should be rendered at the moment the flag passes.