Half Masting in foriegn Countries

[BADSAILOR]

I am stationed in Naples Italy and recently on base the American flag was lowered to Half Mast.

The Italian flag however was flown at Full Staff. It was my understanding that the American flag was never to be flown lower than another flag, however this is in a foreign country, but on land ceded to the US government by the Italians.

What is the actual protocol here?

[Peter Ansoff]

Hi, BadSailor!

Check out my post from back on 15 June 09 in this thread:

Displaying Foreign Country Flag

Bottom line: military regulations state that it is correct to fly the US flag at half-staff beside a foreign flag at full-staff. This is a specific exception to the general rule that all national flags should be at the same height. My earlier post has citations to the specific references.

Peter Ansoff