VW Elks to host annual Flag Day service

VW independent/submitted information

Local residents are encouraged to attend the annual Flag Day services to be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 13, at Elks Lodge 1197 in Van Wert.

The annual event is sponsored by the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, with the Boy Scouts of America also participating.

Flag Day, celebrated each June 14 as specified by President Woodrow Wilson, starting in 1916, honors the creation of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States. Flag Day did not become formally recognized, however, until President 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 that “The flag of the United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

The 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. The ceremony is open to the public so that the Elks can show their local communities that they honor the 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 Jerry Mazur encourages all citizens to attend the lodge’s Flag Day ceremony and demonstrate their love of flag and county. All local residents are also asked to proudly display the flag on Flag Day.