“Big and small, new and faded, at home and abroad, the American flag is a national symbol that inspires our patriotic pride.  June 14th is nothing less than our flag’s birthday.

 

The history of our American flag is as old and as rich as the history of our nation.  It is a constant through the changing centuries.  For these many reasons, I want Congress to pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to outlaw the act of burning the American flag.

 

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the flag we know as the Stars and Stripes to be the national symbol of our country.  Early in the next century, during the war of 1812, the American flag at Fort McHenry inspired Francis Scott Key to pen our national anthem.  An indelible image from World War II is the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima.  That image won a Pulitzer Prize and ran in newspapers around the globe.  It is also the subject of the Marine Corps Memorial statue in the Arlington National Cemetery.  Every morning, a new flag is saluted and raised on that monument.  Every evening, at dusk, it is saluted and lowered.  For me, Iwo
Jima is the perfect symbol of the American flag in a time of triumph.

 

Most recently, however, we have seen the American flag accompany our history in a time of tragedy.  No one will ever forget the American flag that workers unfurled at the Pentagon after the attacks of September 11.  Though we were grieving, it flew as a reminder that our nation was still strong and would overcome the challenges that lay before us.  Today, the Pentagon flag hangs in the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

 

Just two weeks ago I visited wounded American troops at Landstuhl Army Hospital in Germany. The flag is everywhere, and the men and women recovering from injuries look to it for inspiration and for motivation.  It is also an important symbol of our unified support for the soldiers who wear the uniform of our armed services.

 

We all know the flag at these famous moments.  There are many more ways to recognize the flag as a component of our everyday lives.  Many of these traditions began when we were young.

 

Every day in my elementary school began with the Pledge of Allegiance and a chance to reflect on the meaning of the flag in our American lives.  As we travel on Southern Missouri roads, the American flag occupies a small corner of most of the back windshields on other cars and trucks – and every tractor cab.  Every football, basketball, and baseball game starts with the presentation of the flag and the singing of the national anthem.  At banks, government offices and most places of work, a flag greets us on our way in.  It is stitched on the uniforms of our servicemen and servicewomen.  When one of our brave soldiers or veterans dies, the American flag covers the
casket.  The flag is with us from our youth to our death.

 

When the flag is with us everyday, we run the risk of taking it for granted.  Flag Day, June 14, is an important holiday to make special note of the significance of our flag.  As a reminder of our freedoms and of the men and women who have laid down their lives to preserve and protect our nation, the flag is the physical embodiment of our nation itself.  As the standard for our representative government, the flag reminds us of our civic obligation to participate in our democracy.  And as the ceremonial banner for every official event we hold, the flag reminds us that our nation is bigger than any one person, generation, or historical era.

 

On our flag’s birthday, take special time to remember all those who have labored under the banner of the Stars and Stripes.  It is an easy thing to appreciate when you notice the many flags that surround us – big and small, new and faded, at home and abroad – flying proud and high above us.”