States’ honoring fallen soldiers


Just last week I subscribed to Michigan’s service which notifies by e-mail when to fly flags at half-staff, especially since Michigan honors soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan with this simple flag courtesy.  Michigan is the first state I’ve found that offers such notification — from the office of Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm.  (You may subscribe to Michigan’s service at the Governor’s website.)

It turns out that 28 of our 50 states honor fallen soldiers in this fashion.  USA Today carried the full list, compiled by reporters at a couple of Gannett Newspapers.

The entire list is below the fold, quoted exactly from USA Today — is your state one that lowers flags, or not?  If you know of a service to notify people of how the flag should be flown, please tell what you know in the comments.

State-by-State Look at Flag Rules

USA Today

A look at whether servicemember deaths trigger lowering the U.S. flag:

Alabama No

Alaska No

Arkansas No (1)

Arizona No

California Yes

Colorado Yes

Connecticut Yes

Delaware No

Florida No (2)

Georgia No

Hawaii No

Idaho Yes

Illinois Yes(3)

Indiana No

Iowa Yes

Kansas No

Kentucky Yes

Louisiana Yes (4)

Maine Yes

Maryland Yes

Massachusetts No

Michigan Yes

Minnesota Yes

Mississippi No

Missouri No

Montana No

Nebraska No (5)

Nevada Yes

New Hampshire Yes

New Mexico No

New Jersey Yes

New York No

North Carolina No

North Dakota No

Ohio No

Oklahoma Yes (6)

Oregon Yes

Pennsylvania Yes (7)

Rhode Island Yes

South Carolina Yes

South Dakota Yes

Tennessee No

Texas No

Utah Yes

Vermont Yes (8)

Virginia Yes (9)

Washington Yes (10)

West Virginia Yes

Wisconsin Yes

Wyoming Yes

1 – State law applies only to state flag, although many state agencies also lower U.S. flag
2 – Unless requested by local community where servicemember is from
3 – Applies to every state facility
4 – Applies to capitol
5 – Unless requested by mayor
6 – Policy is for fallen Guard troops and applies to state property
7 – Only in servicemember’s home county on day of funeral
8 – Flag lowers for three days, beginning with funeral
9 – Only in locality where servicemember is from
10 – Only for Washington State National Guard

Source: Research by Ben Jones, Keegan Kyle and Kate McGinty, The Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wis., and Marissa DeCuir, USA Today

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2007 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Flag ceremony, Flag etiquette, Patriotism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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