RAISING THE FLAG
I’ve been watching the World Cup soccer games and enjoying the international fans’ display of pride in their countries and flags. Our team is no exception as they each proudly sport their red and white striped jerseys. With ten days away from the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, many Americans will be displaying the flag in honor of the semi quincentennial. When I think of the U.S. flag, certain iconic pictures come to mind: the flag on the moon, firemen erecting a flag in the midst of the 9/11 disaster, and the WWII scene of six marines raising the flag on Mount Suribachi in Iwo Jima.
Who doesn’t picture Betsy Ross with needle and thread in hand, sewing stars onto a patch of blue fabric? According to legend, President George Washington asked Ross, an upholsterer from Philadelphia, to sew the flag for him. She altered his six-point star to five-pointed stars set in a circle. Since 1777, the Stars and Stripes have been modified 26 times.
When the Apollo 11 flew to the moon in 1969, the flag’s design was only 10 years old! Hawaii had just become a state in 1959. President Eisenhower’s administration was looking for a new flag design that would display all 50 states for the first time. High school students were encouraged to submit their own original designs as school projects. A popular story is that the winner was a 17-year-old boy named Robert Heft from Ohio. He used his grandma’s old sewing machine to sew 100 stars on the flag (50 on both sides) in the pattern that we recognize today. His teacher gave him a B- for his efforts. Imagine his surprise when his design was chosen by Eisenhower in 1960. It is said that his teacher changed his grade to an A.
Most of us of a certain age can recall Buzz Aldrin planting the flag on the moon and fiddling with the poles so that it would hang straight. Apparently, it was difficult to secure the pole into the moon’s surface. A little-known fact is that the flag was blown over by the blast of the rocket exhaust from the Eagle. We think of a single flag on the moon, but there are five. The Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 missions each planted a flag on the moon. The Apollo 11 flag might have fallen, but NASA confirms that the other five still stand, though scientists are pretty sure that all of them are now bleached white by the sun’s rays.
Imagine the iconic raising of the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. Of the six marines who erected this flag in the midst of this deadly war, only three of them made it home. One who did, was a native American Indian named Ira Hayes. In 1949, Hayes appeared briefly as himself in the film Sands of Iwo Jima, starring John Wayne.
Just hours after the second tower fell on 9/11, the iconic picture of three New York firemen raising an American flag in the aftermath was taken. One of the firemen spotted the flag on the mast of a yacht called the Star of America. They took it and raised the flag on Ground Zero. Like the six marines in Iwo Jima, the firemen wanted to display hope, strength, and resilience. In a bizarre turn of events, the flag disappeared for 15 years until a former marine dropped it off at a fire station in Washington State. Forensic investigators confirmed it was the 9/11 flag.
Our flag certainly has traveled some miles. The flag’s first trip around the world was aboard the ship the Columbia in 1787. In 1963, it was placed 29,000 feet high at the peak of Mt. Everest. It flew 238,855 miles to the moon with Neil Armstrong in 1969, and its last trip around the back side of the moon was with the crew of Artemis II on April 6th, 2026.
As you put up your flag this year to commemorate the semi quincentennial, think about the 250 year journey our flag has traveled. Consider those individuals throughout history who have influenced it, but more importantly on this 4th of July, no matter what side of the political aisle you are on, think about the message the American flag carries of liberty, justice, and unity. Happy 250th Anniversary, everyone!
Published in The Facts Brazos Living, June 24, 2026
