Last Wednesday, May 15, I saw the Flag flying at half staff and I did not know why. So, I searched the internet to find out “why”. I learned that May 15 is Peace Officers Memorial Day.
As Far Back As 17th Century
The half-staff flag tradition dates back at least as far as the 17th century. The first documented instance was in 1612, when the crew of the British ship “Heart’s Ease” lowered its flag to half-mast after the captain, James Hall, was killed during an expedition to Greenland. It is believed that the gesture was meant to accommodate the invisible “flag of death” flying above the Union Jack.
Among the early references to flag lowering as a sign of mourning in the U.S. was upon the death of President George Washington in December 1799. The Navy Department issued issued an order that ships would express national mourning “by wearing their Colours half-mast high.”
U.S. Flag Code
The U.S. Flag Code grew from the concerns of Civil War veterans in the late 19th century that the national symbol was being misappropriated for commercial and advertising purposes. In 1923, in the wake of the First World War, the National Americanism Commission convened the first National Flag Conference to establish a set of rules for the civilian use of flags.
Eisenhower's Proclamation
But the rules for lowering flags to half-staff were loose until 1954, when President Dwight Eisenhower signed a presidential proclamation that standardized the dates and time periods for flying the U.S. flag at half-staff from federal buildings, grounds and naval vessels.
Eisenhower’s proclamation also provided that the president could order flags to half-staff in the event of the death of other officials, former officials or foreign dignitaries, or “in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law.”
In addition to Memorial Day, Congress has added additional annual observances over the years:
Peace Officers Memorial Day
May 15, sunrise to sunset. In 1994, Congress amended a 1962 law establishing Peace Officers’ Memorial Day and, ordering that flags fly at half-staff, unless the date fell on Armed Forces Day, the third Saturday in May, in which case flags should fly at full staff. Pays tribute to the local, state, and federal peace officers who have died, or who have been disabled, in the line of duty
Memorial Day
Last Monday in May, sunrise to noon. Day of remembering the men and women who died while serving our country.
NOTE: Flags fly at half-staff only until noon on Memorial Day, and at full-staff on Veterans Day, which is meant to honor living veterans.
Patriot Day
September 11, sunrise to sunset. In December 2001, Congress designated September 11 as Patriot Day and ordered that flags fly at half-staff. In memory of the people killed in the September 11 Al Qaeda terrorist attacks of 2001.
Fallen Firefighters Memorial Day
First Sunday in October sunrise to sunset. In 2001, Congress passed a resolution ordering flags to half-staff in honor of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service, as part of National Fire Prevention Week.
Under a state law passed in 2011, Wisconsin Firefighters Memorial Day is observed on the Saturday at the end of Fire Prevention Week. National Memorial to career and volunteer fallen firefighters.
Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
December 7, sunrise to sunset. Established in 1994 to honor those who died as a result of the a941 attack on U.S. military forces in Hawaii.