From left, Mike Crouch, Private First Class Dylan Broshears, Private First Class Nikolai Dyette and Jewel Hancock holding the first on four flags for Flag Day Friday at the Seymour Elks Lodge No. 462.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
The past exalted ruler of the lodge Jim Erp, center, speaking after all eight flags had been presented by the Seymour Young Marines and other Elks lodge members on Friday at the Seymour Elks Lodge No. 462.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Mayor Matt Nicholson, left, delivering the Flag Day Proclamation on Friday at the Seymour Elks Lodge No. 462.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Mike Crouch holding 1775’s Gadsden flag on Flag Day on Friday at the Seymour Elks Lodge No. 462.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Clerk Treasurer Darrin Boas, center, and Mayor Matt Nicholson, right, holding their flags for Flag Day on Friday at the Seymour Elks Lodge No. 462. Not pictured is Private First Class Turner Mellencamp, holding the first flag on the left.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
The annual Flag Day ceremony started at 11 a.m. Friday at the Seymour Elks Lodge No. 462 above Brewskies Downtown, 117 E. Second St. in Seymour.
The past exalted ruler of the lodge Jim Erp welcomed the congregation to the ceremony, a program that they have been doing for many years.
Erp asked those present to stand as he introduced Elks Chaplain Ray Brewer who gave the invocation.
“Through all our history as a nation, [the American flag] has been an incense of freedom, liberty and opportunity,” Brewer said. ”… and through the years to come, may this flag wave as the banner of liberty, freedom and enlightenment.”
Following the invocation, everyone remained standing as the congregation joined in unison for the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, Liza Stuckwisch sang the national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.
Next, Mayor Matt Nicholson gave the proclamation for Flag Day, giving a brief history about the first official flag adopted in 1777 by Congress and the recognition of Flag Day by Congress on Aug. 3, 1949.
“Flag Day celebrates our nation’s symbol of unity and stands for our country’s devotion to freedom and to equal rights for all,” Nicholson said.
The Seymour Young Marines and other Elks lodge members presented the historical eight flags. As Erp gave the history of each flag, the corresponding flag was walked up to the podium, where the flagbearers lined up and held their flags.
“We carry on this tradition to teach our youth to honor our flag and those who sacrificed to keep it flying proudly,” said Erp.
The flag designs include 1755’s Gadsden flag with the phrase “Don’t Tread on Me” on it along with the rattlesnake, 1775’s Pine Tree flag, late 1775’s Grand Union flag, 1776’s Betsy Ross flag, 1795’s flag with the additions of stars and stripes representing Vermont and Kentucky, 1818’s adjusted flag with 13 stripes and 20 stars, 1912’s changes with the addition of Arizona and New Mexico and 1959’s final addition of Alaska and Hawaii. Currently, the flag has flown unchanged for 65 years.
“The gentle breezes with lingering caress kiss the folds of no flag which can compare with it in beauty,” Erp said. “There is no such red in budding rose, in falling lead or sparkling wine; no such white in April blossom, in crescent moon or mountain snow; no such blue in woman’s eye, in ocean’s depth or heaven’s dome; and no such pageantry or clustering stars and streaming light in all the spectrum of the sea and sky.”