Flag Day 2020: Thank You God For How You Have Blessed The USA
Flag Day
Flag Day is an American observance celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by the Second Continental Congress in 1777.
On August 3, 1949, President Harry Truman (POTUS 33) signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 of each year as National Flag Day. The act also requests that the President issue an annual proclamation calling for the observance of Flag Day and for the display of the flag of the United States on all Federal Government buildings.
On June 9, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson (POTUS 36) signed an Act of Congress requesting that the President issue annually a proclamation designating the week in which June 14 occurs as “National Flag Week” and calling on all citizens of the United States to display the flag during that week.
Read President Trump’s Proclamation on Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2020
Prayer
Our Heavenly Father,
Help us Almighty God to celebrate this Flag Day in the unconquerable spirit of those Americans who celebrated Flag Day in 1945—with a fresh sense of our strength as a nation.
Heavenly Father, our beautiful Flag reminds us to thank You for how You have blessed the United States of America. We thank You for the freedoms we enjoy. We thank You for the opportunities and advantages You have bestowed on us as free citizens of America. May the heart of every citizen well up with joy when they look at the stars and stripes.
Thank You that “our flag ensures that we never forget the incredible sacrifices our men and women in uniform have made to defend our liberty and way of life.” Let us be mindful of the immeasurable price paid by so many to keep our flag flying. “Land of the free and home of the brave” isn’t just a song lyric, it is a reality of the American ideal—We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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—an ideal worth defending at any cost.
Impart to all Americans the full realization of what our great Flag symbolizes for them—the freedom to achieve their dreams. Like no other nation in history, all citizens have the tools and the potential to accomplish literally anything. Oh God, please help us see this truth and not to waste the vast opportunities You have so freely given.
Lord, “Be a strong tower against the enemy” (Psalm 61:3) both within and without. By the authority of Jesus, and in Your presence Lord, we say to our enemies, especially the internal ones, “May God’s peace be on your house” (Luke 10:5). For we are fully convinced that Your “hand is not shortened, that it cannot redeem” (Isaiah 50:2).
With Your help, dear God, we have been given many victories. Great victories over horrific enemies. Help us again as we face clear and present battles, as well as those ahead of us, with solemn gratitude for the triumphs of the past.
As we press forward to our final victory already secured by our Savior Jesus Christ, we are strengthened with the knowledge that for millions of people in other lands, as well as in our own, our Flag is a living token of human integrity and freedom. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!” (Psalm 33:12).
In The Name Of Jesus Christ, Our Victorious Savior, Amen
Flag Day 1945
Harry Truman had been vice-president for 82 days when President Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945.
American Armed Forces along with the other Allied Forces celebrated Victory in Europe Day only 26 days later on May 8, 1945. V-E Day is the day celebrating the Allies’ formal acceptance of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces, marking the end of World War II in Europe.
In the wake of this truly great victory, on Flag Day, June 12, 1945, Harry Truman began his proclamation, “We celebrate Flag Day this year with a fresh sense of our strength as a nation.” Little did they know that right around the corner, Victory in Japan, V-J Day, was only a few weeks away on August 3, 1949.
These years marked a truly great era in American history when unity, patriotism, and a common purpose were at all time highs. The U.S. has experienced several times of heightened patriotism, i.e. Desert Storm victory, immediately after the 9/11 attacks. Each of these periods have the common theme of “enemies.” Either the defeat of enemies, or unifying against a common enemy.
Today, the enemy lives in America. God help us to Pray America Great Again.
Harry Truman’s Flag Day Proclamation, 1945
It is our custom each year to set aside a day on which to render special honor to our Flag.
We celebrate Flag Day this year with a fresh sense of our strength as a nation. Solemnly, we accept the responsibilities placed upon us by our power.
We honor the men and women in the armed services and in the factories and homes who, with God’s help, have given us our victories. We face the battle ahead with solemn gratitude for the triumphs of the past.
Our Flag has accompanied our fighting men on a hundred battlefields. It flies beyond the seas over the friendly lands our arms have freed, and over the hostile countries our arms have conquered. Our Flag will be planted in the heart of the empire of our last remaining enemy.
As we press forward to final victory, we are strengthened with the knowledge that for millions of people in other lands as well as in our own our Flag is a living token of human integrity and freedom.
Let us observe this Flag Day by raising our Flag and beside it the flags of the United Nations. It is especially fitting that we thus honor our Allies at a time when we are working with them to lay a firm foundation for world peace. Let this display of the flags of the United Nations symbolize our unity with our Allies both upon the battlefields of war and under the skies of peace. Let us again dedicate ourselves and our Republic, under God, to the united cause of peace and justice and the brotherhood of all men everywhere.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate June 14, 1945, as Flag Day, and ask that the people of our nation on that day do especially honor our Flag, and the men and women of the armed services who have served under it, and that they also pay honor to our Allies of the United Nations.
I direct the officials of the Federal Government and I request the officials of the State and local government to display the Flag of our Republic on all public buildings on Flag Day; and I urge the people of the United States on that day to fly the American Flag from their homes, and also to arrange wherever possible for joint displays of the flags of the freedom-loving United Nations, whose staunch collaboration has aided us to achieve the victories of war and will aid us to realize our hope for an enduring peace.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.
DONE at the city of Washington this 28th of May in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-ninth. [SEAL]
HARRY S. TRUMAN
By the President:
JOSEPH C. GREW,
Acting Secretary of State.
Stand for the flag. Kneel for the cross. In other words, let’s get our priorities straight. This is someone’s beautiful artwork. The photo was nominated for an award.
Photo credit and licensing info: @jdnjd83 via Twenty20
