Overview
- News outlets and veterans groups issued reminders by Saturday urging Americans to follow the U.S. Flag Code on Memorial Day and place flags at half-staff from sunrise until noon before raising them to full staff for the rest of the day.
- The Flag Code defines half-staff as positioning the flag midway on the pole and requires flags to be raised fully before lowering to half-staff and raised again before lowering at sunset.
- Veterans leaders say the split display is symbolic: the morning honors service members who died while the noon raising signals that the nation carries on.
- Common public mistakes include leaving flags lowered all day or keeping them at full staff all day, and additional errors include letting the flag touch the ground or using a worn flag without retiring it properly.
- The practice dates to Decoration Day after the Civil War and was codified over time with mourning procedures from the Eisenhower era and the 1971 federal holiday designation, and other observances or presidential proclamations can require different half-staff periods.