June 14 2012 - Today is Flag Day 2012. To those who don't know what Flag Day is, it is a day to celebrate the adoption of the U.S. Flag. It is celebrated on June 14 - and although it is not a federal holiday, it is commemorates the significant event of the birth of the American Flag in 1777.

On June 14th 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed an official resolution that the American flag have 13 stripes alternating in red and white and that the Union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."
June 14th is also a day where the U.S. Army celebrates its birthday.

Flag Day was first celebrated in Pennsylvania in 1937.

Flag Day parades are held throughout the country. A Flag Day parade is held in Quincy, Massachusetts every year since 1952. It is the longest running Flag Day Parade.

U.S. President Barrack Obama issued a presidential proclamation in honor of Flag Day and National Flag Week 2012 on June 11.


Obama proclaimed: "I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim June 14, 2012, as Flag Day and the week beginning June 10, 2012, as National Flag Week. I direct the appropriate officials to display the flag on all Federal Government buildings during that week, and I urge all Americans to observe Flag Day and National Flag Week by displaying the flag. I also call upon the people of the United States to observe with pride and all due ceremony those days from Flag Day through Independence Day, also set aside by the Congress (89 Stat. 211), as a time to honor America, to celebrate our heritage in public gatherings and activities, and to publicly recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America."