Twirling the flag

In the mid-70s, I went to a high school game between the school where I was teaching and a very rural high school in a very poor and rural county.

We were playing on their field. Many of our players were the sons or grandsons of Marines, who had come out to see their boys play.

At the beginning of the game, the home team's band came out on the field to play the National Anthem. They had a flag team, with 2 girls carrying the national and state flag, and two others with wooden rifles as an honor guard. We all stood up and removed our hats, the band played, and the flag and honor guard marched off.

At halftime, the band came back on the field to perform its program, and the flag team came out with it. Most of the girls had banners with the school colors, but two of them still carried the US and NC flags. The music started, the girls on the flag team began their routine, waving and twirling with the flags--including the national and state flag.

I thought the Marines in our stands were going to have collective heart failure!

When the young lady threw up and caught the US flag along with the others, you could hear a collective gasp.

Several of them wanted to go in a body to the band leader and tell him off Marine style. But a retired colonel and the civilians among us (including their wives) finally convinced everyone that a confrontation there, on their field, at their school, and in their county, might not be a strategically good idea.

What they finally decided to do was to get a copy of the USMC flag manual and send it to the school with a letter advising them that they needed to handle the flag more respectfully.

This was done. The next time I happened to see that school's band perform, the flag was not twirled.