Flag Etiquette
Here you'll find information about our National Flag - how to fold it, display it, use it properly in Flag Ceremonies, and how to retire it with honor.
Folding the Flag
Fold the flag in half width-wise twice. If done by two, then the blue field should be facing the bottom on the first fold. Fold up a triangle, starting at the striped end ...and repeat ... until only the end of the union is exposed. Then fold down the square into a triangle and tuck inside the folds.
Flag Ceremonies
Learn how to perform indoor and outdoor flag ceremonies, as well as a flag retirement ceremony.
Indoor/Outdoor Flag Ceremonies: Please keep in mind that how you walk in/out will be dependent upon the room/venue set up.
Flag Retirement Ceremony: Boy Scouts is one of the few organizations besides the military to be granted the right and priveledge to retire our Nation’s flag. This should always be done in a respectful manner to honor our country and the service of it’s symbol.
Points to Remember Regarding Flag Etiquette
Find out about very important etiquette involving our national flag.
The Flag Color-guard does not salute the flag when everyone else does. As they are considered “guarding” the flag, they should be at respectful attention at all times (hands at their sides) and should only salute the flag when commanded to do so before being dismissed.
U.S. flag is always displayed to the far stage-right (viewer’s left) of other flags, or in the center and higher than all others. This applies for parades as well.
When posting flags in stands, the U.S. flag is always the last one posted and the first one lifted.
The U.S. flag is displayed in a stand to the speaker's right as he faces the audience in an auditorium.
The U.S. flag is raised briskly and lowered slowly. (Eager to start the day, sad to see it end.)
When raising flags on flagpoles, the U.S. flag is always the first one raised and the last one lowered.
The U.S. flag should not be carried flat or horizontally.
The U.S. flag should not touch anything below it, should not have anything placed on or above it, should not be used to cover anything, and should be kept clean.
Displaying the Flag – A Quick “How To”
Learn about how to properly display the US Flag in various situations.
1. When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium on or off a podium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker (to the right of the audience). Please note that the old guidelines differed from this updated and simplified one.
2. When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace. The order of precedence for flags generally is National flags (US first, then others in alphabetical order in English), State (host state first, then others in the order of admission) and territories (Washington DC, Puerto Rico, etc.), Military(in order of establishment: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard),then other.
3. That the flag, when carried in a procession with another flag, or flags, should be either on the marching right; that is, the flag's own right, or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line.
4. The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
5. When the flag is displayed in a manner other than by being flown from a staff, it should be displayed flat, whether indoors or out. When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window it should be displayed in the same way, that is with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street. When festoons, rosettes, or drapings are desired, bunting of blue, white and red should be used, but never the flag.
6. The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. By "half-staff" is meant lowering the flag to one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff. Crepe streamers may be affixed to spear heads or flagstaffs in a parade only by order of the President of the United States.
7. When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the right of the flag of the United States (the viewer's left).When the flag is half-masted, both flags are half-masted, with the US flag at the mid-point and the other flag below.
8. When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.
9. The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right [that means the viewer's left], and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.
10. When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.
11. When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff.
12. When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flagshould not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.
13. When the flag is displayed on a car, the staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.
14. When hung in a window, place the blue union in the upper left, as viewed from the street.