We have fielded several requests over the past few months for an article on the proper procedure for displaying the American flag. We’re not sure if the folks who wrote in to us saw the flag flying improperly, and since we’ve received mostly email on the subject we did not bother to get into a back-and-forth over then who's, when's and where's. We didn’t want to call out anyone for a simple breach of etiquette; instead, we thought we’d follow through on the multiple requests and print the dos and don’ts of flying Old Glory.

According to the Web site www.usflag.org, everything anyone might ever wish to know about the proper ways to display the flag are available in United States Code Title 36, Chapter 10. Sections 171 through 182 address everything from the exact wording of the Pledge of Allegiance, to proper respect for the flag, to position and manner of acceptable display. A full copy of the code is available online.

For example, Section 171 reads, in part, “During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.” The section also stipulates that if no flag is present when the national anthem is played, everyone should face the music and “act in the same manner that they would if the flag were displayed there.”

Section 172 spells out the exact wording of the Pledge of Allegiance, including the addition of the words “under God”, added in 1954. Men and women in uniform, the section stipulates, should “remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.”

Section 174 reads that it is only appropriate to fly the flag “from sunrise to sunset,” unless the flag is properly lit. The section also says the flag should be “hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously,” and that the flag should never be raised during inclement weather “except when an all weather flag is displayed.”

The section also lists all the days during the year that the flag should be displayed, including the possibly little-known dates of Easter Sunday, Armed Forces Day (third Saturday in May), Constitution Day (Sept. 17), and Navy Day (Oct. 27). On Memorial Day, the flag should be flown at half-staff until noon. Also, the section declares that a flag should be flown “in or near every schoolhouse,” “on or near the main administration building of every public institution,” and “in or near every polling place on election days.”

In Section 175, the U.S. Code deals with how the American flag should be displayed in other public settings, such as parades. For example, the flag should never be “draped over the hood, top, sides or back of a motor vehicle or of a railroad train or boat.” Specifically, then the flag is placed on a car, it should be “affixed to the chassis or right fender.” When the flag is displayed on a wall mount with other flags, Old Glory should be situated “on the right, the flag’s own right, and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.”

The section also goes into great detail regarding specifications for any number of possibilities for display of the American flag, including when hanging in a window, suspended over a city street, or used as a background for a speaker in a public auditorium or other setting.