[bigvolman]

A puzzling question was asked this evening by a local DJ. Where is the only place in the United States where another flag can fly above the US flag? As a veteran of the Armed Forces I was stunned to know that someplace actually exsists. I cannot find the answer anywhere, any help would be appreciated.

[coasterville]

The only exception I can think of related to the flying of the flag of a religious nature onboard a naval vessel during a religious service.

Title 4 - Chapter 1, Section 7, Clause C:

c) No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the
same level, to the right of the flag of the United States of America,
except during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when
the church pennant may be flown above the flag during church services
for the personnel of the Navy.

[american_flag_uk]

yep - Coasterville is absolutley right

theres no other exceptions

[coasterville]

There is one other exception I can think of, but the poster said the DJ said "above".

The other exception is at the United Nations, as Peter and I were discussing in a different thread. Apparently the UN is considered to be located on international territory as least philosophically. There is an exception written into the code that allows the UN to give no nation priority, and they instead place the US lfag in its display in alpha order, just like all the other nations.

[Peter Ansoff]

The other exception is at the United Nations

Well, no, not really. The original question was about locations where other flags could fly *above* the US flag. The UN flag is flown at the same level as national flags, both at the UN and elsewhere. The same is generally true of the flags of other international organizations, such as the ILO and the OAS.

Peter ansoff

[coasterville]

True, that was why I pointed out the DJ specifically used the word "above" in his trivia question, which points to the religious service on a nval vessel answer.

But the DJ's question also said "in the United States", while it is true that naval ships can be located both here in the States, as well as abroad. I hope I didn't confuse, which is why I stated the alpha order part of it. it's not above, but its not in the commonly considered position of honor either.

[Peter Ansoff]

it's not above, but its not in the commonly considered position of honor either.

Quite true. I wonder how many DJs would understand a subtlety like that!

It's interesting that there are actually two versions of the US Navy church pennant, one with the Christian cross and one with the Jewish star and the tablets of Moses. They started commissioning Muslim chaplains in the Navy about 10 years ago -- do you suppose we'll see a Muslim version of the pennant some day?

Peter Ansoff