Van Wert Elks planning Flag Day services

VW independent/submitted information

Area residents are encouraged to attend the annual Flag Day services being held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, in the Elks Lodge, 1197 Elks Drive off Van Wert-Decatur Road.

Also participating in the annual event, sponsored by the local Elks lodge, will be the Van Wert unit of the Civil Air Patrol.

Flag Day, celebrated each June 14 as specified by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, honors the creation of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States. Flag Day was not formally recognized until President Harry Truman, himself an Elk, signed a resolution in 1949 declaring Flag Day an official national holiday.

The Continental Congress adopted the design of the Stars and Stripes on June 14, 1777, resolving: “The flag of the United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is the first and only fraternal organization to mandate that, on June 14 every year, each lodge must conduct a solemn and beautiful Flag Day ceremony. This ceremony is open to the public, so that Elks can show local communities that it honors the American flag and all it represents.

As part of this year’s ceremony, local lodge winners of the Grand Lodge Americanism Contest will read their winning essays.

Local Elks Exalted Ruler Craig Bell encourages area residents to attend the lodge’s Flag Day ceremony and demonstrate their love of flag and county. Residents are also asked to proudly display the flag on Flag Day.