OHS - Fight for the Colors - Behind the Lines - Flag Uses and Meanings
Flag Uses and Meanings
For me the flag of the United States does not express a mere body of vague sentiment. The flag of the United States has not been created by rhetorical sentences in declarations of independence and in bills of rights. It has been created by the experience of a great people, and nothing is written upon it that has not been written by their life. It is the embodiment, not of a sentiment, but of a history, and no man can rightly serve under that flag who has not caught some of the meaning of that history.
President Woodrow Wilson, June 14, 1916, Flag Day
Unit Identifiers
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37th Infantry Division on parade during World War II. From Archives/Library Collection P 295. |
From medieval times to the present, individual military units have had their own flags,
usually known as colors, to represent and identify the group. Units carry their flags with
them in camp, on the march, on parade, and in the field. Flags identify a unit to other
soldiers and civilians. As a unit, the soldiers use the flags to stay together when they
are on the move. On the battle field, flags serve as a rallying point for members of a
unit.
Grave Markers
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Grave of Ross Besse, 74th Infantry Brigade south of Ivoiry, France. From Archives/Library Collection P 216. |
Whether soldiers are buried in the United States or abroad, their graves are often marked
with the national flag. A flag by a headstone or other grave marker immediately identifies to anyone visiting the site that the
person buried there as having served in the armed forces. The
flags also remind visitors of the sacrifices U.S. soldiers made to protect and serve their
country.
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