American flags decorate downtown Kearney on Friday, June 14, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
KEARNEY — The streets of downtown Kearney were decorated with American flags to celebrate Flag Day on Friday, June 14.
Flag Day commemorates June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress determined the composition of the nation’s banner: “Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
The United States Army also celebrates the U.S. Army birthday on this date, as Congress adopted the American continental army after reaching a consensus position in the Committee of the Whole on June 14, 1775.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation that designated June 14 as Flag Day.
On August 3, 1949, National Flag Day was officially established by an Act of Congress.
The earliest reference to the suggestion of a “Flag Day” is cited in Kansas: a Cyclopedia of State History, published by Standard Publishing Company of Chicago in 1912.
For Flag Day 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched an international “United Flag Day” or “United Nations Day”, celebrating solidarity among the World War II Allies, six months after the Declaration by United Nations.
A flag outside of the NRG Media studios in Kearney, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)