ALT-1 How and when to Display the us Flag at Half Staff
The first rule governing any display of the United States flag is respect. All other rules derive from this basic principle.
Formal display of the American flag is governed by the United States Flag Code, which constitutes section 1, Title 4 of the United States Code. While these regulations are federal law, there is no punative action associated with failure to comply with them.
An American mast is properly lowered to half mast to pay respect to someone who has died. This choice may be that of the individual, but it may also be mandated on a case-by-case basis by the governor of a state or the president of the United States. In these cases, all flags should be flown at half mast for so long as the flag over the state building or White House is at half mast. An existing presidential proclamation by Dwight D. Eisenhower requires federal flags to be flown at half mast:
• Upon the death of a United States president or former president (30 days);
• Upon the death of an active United States vice president, active or retired chief justice, or speaker of the House of Representatives (10 days)
• Upon the death of a former United States vice president, Supreme Court associate justice, cabinet member, leader of the Senate or House of Representatives, president pro-tempore, or governor (until buried)
• Upon the death of a United States senator, representative, territorial delegate, or resident commissioner of Puerto Rico (1 day)
• Memorial Day (until noon), Peace Officers Memorial Day, Patriot Day, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
To properly raise a flag to half mast, the flag should first be raised fully, then lowered to half mast. When lowering a flag at half mast, the flag should first be raised fully, then lowered. It is common custom to raise a flag to half mast to taps.
The half-mast position itself varies, but should range between the halfway point on a staff to just below one flag width. The missing space represents the space which would have been occupied by the standard of the person who has died. Thus the underlying idea behind the half-mast position is to represent a feel of something missing.
The raising of a flag to half mast should be saluted by those who normally salute superiors. The salute should be held through the full raising of the flag, as well as to the end of any music playing during the raising. Others should remove any headgear and place their hands over their hearts. The same guidelines apply while the flag is being lowered.
Where other flags are involved in the half-mast ceremony, they should all be raised and lowered simultaneously.
Parade flags are not flown at half mast. For these and any other flags that cannot be lowered to half mast (such as fixed-staff flags), a common custom is to add black crepe streamers.
As always during any display of a flag, the flag should never touch the ground or make contact with anything not the flagpole. Contrary to urban legend, a flag that has accidentally touched the ground may still be flown, though it should of course be adjusted so that it is no longer touching the ground.
