Memorial Day Half-Staffing Procedure HISTORY?

[Robin Hickman]

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GREETINGS !!!


Does anyone know the "history" behind the Memorial Day half-staffing procedure. In other words, WHY is the U.S. Flag at half-staff until NOON and then raised to FULL staff on Memorial Day?

I've got a TV News crew coming over to my house for an interview at 1:00 PM, and I can't for the life of me remember WHY it's in the Flag Code that way!!!


THANK YOU !!!



Robin Hickman
Eugene, Oregon, USA
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[Robin Hickman]

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I'm NOT sure... BUT... I think that since Memorial Day was originally the post Civil War's "Decoration Day", that the "tradition" of half-staffing the Flag until noon and then raising it to full staff for the rest of the day was to honor "The Fallen" with the half-staff position until Noon, and then to raise it back up to the full-staff position to show that "The Union" (our Nation) still lives. Then that "tradition" got included in the U.S. Flag Code.


Am I close ???



Robin Hickman
Eugene, Oregon, USA
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[Peter Ansoff]

Robin and all,

I took my best shot at answering that question here:

meaning of half mast until noon

. . . for what it's worth! See also the interesting discussion there about the differences between Army and Navy regs on the subject.

Peter A.

[Robin Hickman]

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Well, the KVAL-TV news crew left about 15 minutes ago. And I must say, that in all the interviews I've given over the years THAT one was NOT one of the best ones!

I gave them the Memorial Day half-staffing information as well as I could remember it.

My question here is still the same as it was earlier: Did I get it "right" ???


I really was NOT at my best today and I'm really sorry if I've let anybody down!


Robin Hickman
Eugene, Oregon, USA
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[Peter Ansoff]

Don't worry about it, Robin. From my experience with news folks, they would probably get it all mixed up anyway!

Peter A.

[Robin Hickman]

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Well, I did the interview but, in my opinion, I don't think I was particualrly effective in giving them enough "good stuff" for them to use. BTW: They didn't use any of the Memorial Day half-staff info I gave them. The story aired last night (Saturday, 5/28/11) at 6:00 & 11:00 PM.

A couple of people who've seen the story thought I did great but I've done enough "GREAT!" interviews over the years to know this one was NOT one of them! And in the story's on-line page the "photo gallery" has the WORST picture of me EVER!!!

http://www.kval.com/news/local/122781549.html?


ARGGGGGGGGGGGG !!!


Y'all have a safe & sane Memorial Day weekend, y'hear ???


BTW : KVAL-TV also has a section for viewer-submitted photos and videos called "YouNews". Here's a link to a video & pictures that I submitted for Armed Forces Day (Saturday, May 21st, 2011). KVAL used a short snippet of my YouNews video in their Memorial Day story (Which kind of started this whole thread). I've had trouble uploading the video and getting it to play, I don't know if they've "fixed" it yet, so be patient. Hmmmm.....

http://www.kval.com/younews/122772164.html



Robin Hickman
Eugene, Oregon, USA
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