Flag Day on the North Olympic Peninsula will be commemorated today with activities ranging from dedicating a Freedom Shrine to a disposal ceremony for worn Stars and Stripes.
Based on decades of state and local celebrations stemming from the mid-1800s, President Woodrow Wilson established June 14 as Flag Day in 1916.
President Harry S. Truman in 1949 signed a congressional bill officially establishing National Flag Day on June 14.
The 2004 version locally will include these events:
* A Freedom Shrine featuring 28 reproductions of the nation’s most significant documents — including the Declaration of Independence and Constitution — will be dedicated at Port Angeles High School at 11:15 a.m.
The Port Angeles Exchange Club sponsored the display, and scheduled speakers at the dedication will include Mayor Richard Headrick, Port Angeles School District Superintendent Gary Cohn, high school Principal Michelle Reid, and Exchange Club President Debbie Atwell.
The Port Angeles High School Naval Junior ROTC color guard will perform the flag ceremony, and the high school chorus will sing the national anthem.
Invocation will be delivered by the Rev. Michael Carr, rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church of Port Angeles, and Steven Lewis and Jack Gailey will close the event with “Echo Taps.”
Co-chairs of the Freedom Shrine project for the Exchange Club, Julie Hatch and Dr. Peter Lewis, will moderate the dedication ceremony.
* The public is invited to bring any faded or tattered American flags to an American Legion disposal ceremony today.
American Legion Post 62 will conduct the ceremony at the Post Home, 107 E. Prairie St., Sequim, at 2 p.m.
The disposal ceremony will be conducted according to American Legion ritual and the Flag Code of the United States, said post Cmdr. Robert W. Robinson.
The American Legion Auxiliary will serve refreshments following the burning ceremony.
Robinson can be contacted at 360-683-4597 for further information.
* The Port Angeles Senior Center’s Senior Games team will serve a Flag Day breakfast today from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Senior and Community Center, 328 E. Seventh St., Port Angeles.
Breakfast is $5, but additional donations will be accepted for the team, which will participate in the Senior Games on July 23-25 in Tumwater, Lacey and Olympia.
