During normal Memorial Day weekends, towns across America would be teeming with activities in recognition of those who have lost their lives in service to our country.
To be sure, we will lay patriotic-themed wreaths or bouquets of peonies on the headstones of military veterans and others we hold dear. But like almost everything else, the coronavirus has upended this somber annual tradition.
One of the ways Americans can pay their respects from a safe distance on Memorial Day is by flying the flag the way it is done at any other time of national mourning, at half-staff.
It’s not as simple as raising the flag halfway up the flagpole and walking away, though.
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The U.S. flag code is specific about that.
The flag should be briskly raised to the peak and remain there for an instant before it is slowly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains until noon. Then the flag is briskly hoisted to the peak again, where Old Glory remains until sunset, when it is slowly lowered.
It’s an important piece of symbolism. Until noon, the flag flies at half-staff as a memorial for the nation’s war dead; for the rest of the day, it flies full and high in a salute to living veterans.
The tradition predates the 20th century, National Flag Foundation Executive Director Clark Rogers told Live Science. “For the nation lives, and the flag is a symbol of illumination,” he said in explaining how the noon flag-raising symbolizes the perseverance of the nation in the face of loss.
Not everyone has a flagpole, of course.
For flags that are mounted from the side of a home, window or balcony, a black crepe streamer can be affixed to the staff immediately below the flag’s spearhead — the golden ball or spear-shaped ornament at the top of the staff, according to media mogul Martha Stewart. On a standard-size flag, the crepe should be no wider than one foot.