What does the American flag symbolize to you? Flag Day history and what it means to locals

Justine Lookenott
Greenville News

President Woodrow Wilson officially marked June 14 as Flag Day in 1916, according to History.com

Up until 1775, the colonists had been fighting under their own regiment flags in the American Revolutionary War, according to the website. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress unified the colonists under the Continental Army, which led to the creation of one unifying flag. This new flag had 13 red and white stripes — and the Union Jack symbol in the corner, something that was not popular with many people.

On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution for a new flag design that was completely independent of British influence, according to the website. The resolution stated that “the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and that “the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

Flag Day was established 139 years after this resolution. 

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, President Woodrow Wilson, in 1916, and President Calvin Coolidge, in 1927, issued proclamations asking for June 14 to be observed as National Flag Day. Congress approved the national observance, on Aug. 3, 1949, and President Harry Truman signed it into law. 

Bill Anderson of Anderson, a retired E5 US Army veteran who served in the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam says the US Flag "means the world to me," between mowing near flags seen along Jackson Street in Anderson days before Flag Day.

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“Flag Day means more than just celebrating our physical flag,” said U.S. Rep. William Timmons, R-SC 4th District. “On June 14 each year we commemorate the Stars and Stripes and remember just how special our flag and our nation are. Our American ideals and values, represented by our flag, are what makes us the greatest country in the world. There is no challenge the American people cannot overcome.” 

US Rep. William Timmons, a Republican, represents South Carolina's Fourth District in Congress.

The meaning of the American flag

Today, the flag has many meanings for the American people. 

Mary Willis, a 93-year-old former Lower School principal for Spartanburg Day School has her own thoughts on the American flag. Several decades ago, she watched her husband go off to fight in World War II.

Mary Willis

"There’s no question that the American flag means 'freedom' to me,” Willis said. “When I married Al Willis, he felt the same way. When he moved to the U.S. from England, he was proud to become an American. He volunteered to serve in World War II because he wanted to serve his country – the United States. For me, the flag represents my freedom to seek an education, choose a career, raise a family and vote for the candidates of my choice. I think of all my blessings as an American when I see our country’s flag."

Military veterans say American flag is a symbol of freedom 

For military veteran Sarah Custer, the director of emergency management at Clemson University, the flag is an object of pride "and gratefulness for what we have as Americans and the men and women who have chosen to, and continue to put, other people ahead of themselves." 

Custer joined the U.S. Air Force right before 9/11 and spent the next 16 years serving alongside every branch before settling down in Clemson. 

Hao Wu is also an Army veteran — and a Chinese immigrant. 

“When we think of the American Flag, we think of patriotism,” Wu said. “For many people, patriotism is merely a slogan of convenience. For me, the American flag represents a revolutionary road that I have walked and will continue to walk.”

Hao Wu, an Asian American activist in the Upstate, poses for a portrait Wednesday, April 7, 2021.

Wu was born in the 1980s under the totalitarian regime of Communist China. He was taught from a young age that the American flag represented “the enemy,” a system of ideas China considered “foreign” and “dangerous.”

But Wu’s father was idealistic and firmly believed in the democratic ideals of America. On June 4, 1989, he led his fellow Shanghai students in a march for democracy. That same day in Beijing, students protesting for the same cause were subjected to the massacre in Tiananmen Square by the Chinese government.

Wu’s father helped him escape to America where he has lived ever since. After attending university, he earned his citizenship through his service in the military.

Wu said he struggled with his education during his first few years in a new country, but fondly remembers his social studies teacher, Ms. York. 

“Her class taught me that the American Dream was succinctly summed up in the declaration that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

But both veterans are aware of the mixed views some other Americans have toward the flag.

Custer says she understands not everyone reveres the flag or American ideals as she does, but that's the point of her service.

Sarah Custer joined Clemson in the summer of 2018 as the university’s director of emergency management.

"That is absolutely part of what we fight for,” Custer said. “Men and women that choose to serve, we serve everybody, regardless of your beliefs. Regardless of if you love this country or hate this country. We're there to take care of you and to protect your right to express those beliefs."

As an immigrant, an American, a soldier, a civilian and a minority, Wu says that while he holds his head high while saluting the flag, it is impossible for him to ignore that “we as Americans have not always lived up to our ideals.”

He said the ability for his Black American brothers and sisters to have freedom of speech, the press, to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances is something that is enshrined in the Constitution. Something he is proud to support them in because their struggle, like his, is a struggle for the American Dream. 

“On this Flag Day, I am proud to say that my faith in my country has never been stronger because I find myself in a free country doing duty to the flag under Army Regulation 600-25 while my brothers and sisters are free to obey their conscience and calling.” Wu said.