How did Flag Day come to be, and why do we observe it? On Wednesday, June 14, the United States will hold it’s annual observance of Flag Day.The origins of Flag Day date back to June 14, 1777, during the meeting of the Continental Congress. A resolution to approve the design of what would come to be the American Flag was passed.
A flag of this design first went into battle on September 11, 1777, in the Battle of Brandywine. The flag was saluted by foreign naval vessels on February 14, 1777 when Captain John Paul Jones sailed the Ranger into a French port.
Observance of the newly adopted flag didn’t truly occur until a full century after it’s adoption.
Throughout the years there have been many who claimed to have been the first to observe Flag Day, but William T. Kerr was given the moniker ‘Father of Flag Day’, as he was credited with founding the American Flag Day Association in 1888 while attending school in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Both President Woodrow Wilson, in 1916, and President Calvin Coolidge, in 1927, issued proclamations asking that June 14 be observed as Nation Flag Day. It wasn’t until August 3, 1949, that Congress approved the national observance and President Harry S. Truman signed it into law.
