Sunday, October 2, 2005

Flags

Last weekend, while I was away, one of the things I did was cover a meeting for my father, who was unable to attend it. He and I are members of the Sons of the American Revolution. Like I said, he was scheduled to attend, but since he couldn't make it, I represented the chapter in my home town where I maintain a membership.

Anyway, at the meeting, I sat next to a representative from another chapter who I found out was a fan of blogs. I had my laptop with me and was surprised to find that the hotel where the meeting was held had a wireless Internet connection available. It was one of the few times that weekend I was able to get online while I was out of town. So, I checked my e-mail. And some e-mail arrived for this little blog.

My SAR friend saw the e-mails arrive and asked me, "YOU'RE Basil?"

I was. And am.

Turns out, not only is he a fan of blogs, he's a regular reader of this little blog. And he had no idea I was the same Basil.

Since the meeting hadn't yet begun, we chatted about blogs for a bit, and he mentioned other blogs he visited on a regular basis. He also mentioned that he ran across this little blog from his visits to the American Flag League. And he shared with me a flag story. I asked him if I could share it and he wrote it up for me.

I'd like to share it with you.

In May, my job duties had me traveling through a subdivision and I noticed a house flying the Gadsden flag. Given my interest in the Revolutionary War and my hobby of collecting historical flags, I was understandably curious. However, since I was on the job and it was the middle of the afternoon, I could not stop.

A couple of weeks later, I happened to be passing through this subdivsion again and noticed that this house was flying the Guilford Courthouse flag. I was very curious now since the Guilford flag, which is one of my favorites, is not the most common flag that someone would chose to fly. As you know, a lot of blogs have taken the First Navy Jack and included it as a symbol of their frustration with the current government and it is closely related to the Gadsden flag. Yet again, since I was on the job, I still could not investigate further.

Finally, I was traveling with my family on a Saturday in June and decided to take a little detour through this subdivision. As I was driving up, I noticed that the owner of the house was working in his yard. When I pulled up, he asked if he could help me with anything. I mentioned that I had noticed he was flying the Serapis flag. The owner stated that I was the first person to actually know the name of the flag he had up. I mentioned that I had noticed the other flags as I was passing through on business and my hobby. He stated that he also liked to collect historical flags. After we introduced ourselves, we realized that we actually knew each other but only over the phone.

The owner stated that he was looking for the Washington's Staff (Commander-in-Chief) flag which is one that I was also looking for and that he would help me locate a Serapis flag. As fate would have it, I was able to locate the Washington's Staff flag a few weeks later at a flag store where I was vacationing.

My friend is a member of the SAR State Color Guard, and makes appearances at schools either with other members but most often by himself in his Color Guard uniform. He said lots of kids see him and ask him if he's a pirate. So, along with his group of American historical flags, he'll keep a Jolly Roger for a gag that the kids enjoy.

And, if you didn't know, the SAR chapter nearest you will likely be able to have someone, if not in the Color Guard, then a historical expert, speak to your school or other organization. And, for large events, your state's Color Guard may be able to make an appearance, if they aren't booked that day.

If you're interested, visit the SAR Web site and locate your state society. You can find your nearest chapter from your state Web site, and someone there can help you.

3 comments:

  1. Cool story, you Mortal Human you. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't forget the Daughters of the American Revolution - the DAR. We love flags too. This is my chapter's web site: "http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafccdar/"

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