In the United States, Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in May. It falls near the end of Armed Forces Week, which begins on the second Saturday of May and ends on the third Sunday of May.

The day was created in 1949 to honor Americans serving in the five U.S. military branches – the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard – following the consolidation of the military services in the Department of Defense. It was intended to replace the separate Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Days, but the separate days are still observed, especially within the respective services.

The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated by parades, open houses, receptions and air shows. In 1962, President Kennedy established Armed Forces Day as an official holiday. The United States’ longest running city-sponsored Armed Forces Day Parade is held in Bremerton, Washington. In 2009, Bremerton celebrated the 61st Armed Forces Day Parade.

Because of their unique training schedules, National Guard and Reserve units may celebrate Armed Forces Day/Week over any period in May.

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Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week is an observance in the United States that pays tribute to the local, state, and Federal peace officers. The Memorial takes place on May 15, and Police Week is the calendar week in which the Memorial falls.

The holiday was created on October 1, 1961, when Congress asked the president to designate May 15 to honor peace officers. John F. Kennedy signed the bill into law on October 1, 1962. Amended in 1994, Bill Clinton, through Public Law 103-322, directed that the flag of the United States be flown at half-staff on May 15. According to a proclamation by George W. Bush in 2002,

“Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week pay tribute to the local, State, and Federal law enforcement officers who serve and protect us with courage and dedication. These observances also remind us of the ongoing need to be vigilant against all forms of crime, especially to acts of extreme violence and terrorism.”

Much of the holiday centers on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial wall in Washington, D.C., whose walls feature the names of the nearly 19,000 law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty.

***Half Staff Day***

Taken from Wiki

The Minnesota State Flag is a medium blue color with a narrow gold border and a gold fringe. Centered in the medium blue field is a circular emblem with a white background and a yellow border. Within the circular emblem an inner circle surrounds scenes from The Great Seal of the State of Minnesota displayed on a field of medium blue matching that of the general flag. The inner circle is surrounded by 19 five pointed stars representing Minnesota as the 19th state, after the original 13 colonies, to join the union. The stars are arranged in four groups of four stars and one group of three stars at the top of the circle. The top star represents the North Star. The five star groups represent a five pointed star. The word “MINNESOTA” is printed in red letters below the inner circle.

Scenes from the Minnesota State Seal are displayed within the inner circle. Shown is a bare-footed farmer plowing a field. The farmer’s axe, gun and powder horn rest on a nearby stump. An Indian rides nearby. The field borders a river with a waterfall. Perhaps you can find this same field near St. Anthony’s Falls on the Mississippi River? These scenes are surrounded by intertwined pink and white lady slippers (the state flower) and a red ribbon. Printed in gold letters on the red ribbon are the dates 1819, the year in which Fort Snelling was established, 1893, the year that the flag was officially adopted and “L’ETOILE DU NORD” (Star of the North), the Minnesota State Motto. Over the seal in gold letters is the date 1858; the date that Minnesota was admitted to the union.

Here are some tips for proper flag etiquette, and a list of things you should not do with the flag.

Outdoors, the flag should ordinarily be displayed only between sunrise and sunset. It should be illuminated if displayed at night, and saluted as it is hoisted and lowered.

When it is displayed against a wall, vertically or horizontally, the flag’s union (stars) should be at the top, to the flag’s own right, and to the observer’s left.

The U.S. flag should be at the center and highest point of the group when a number of flags are grouped for display. When it is flown with flags of states, communities, etc., no other flag may be larger, placed above it, or raised before or after it.

When the flag passes in a procession, or when it is hoisted or lowered, everyone should face the flag and salute.

When the flag is very worn, it should be destroyed by burning in a dignified manner. (Most American Legion posts regularly conduct a dignified flag burning ceremony, often on Flag Day, June 14.)

Flag Blunders:

Never dip the flag to a person or thing. It is only flown upside down as a distress signal.

Never use the flag as drapery or covering. Bunting of red, white and blue is available for that.

Never let any part of the flag touch the ground or any other object when it’s being lowered. It should be received by waiting hands and folded ceremoniously for storage.

Never lower it into a grave, even when it’s used to cover a casket.

During the 19th century it was traditional in Louisiana flags and the state seal for the “pelican in her piety” to have three drops of blood on her chest. However, in later years the tradition (on both the state flag and seal) had been haphazardly followed, which was noticed by an eighth-grader at Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma who brought this to the attention of his state legislator. The issue was resolved in April 2006, when the Louisiana State Legislature passed a bill (House Bill 833/Act 92) which requires three drops of blood to be depicted on the pelican used in both the state’s flag and seal. The new state flag, featuring a new design, was recently unveiled during swearing-in ceremonies of new state officials.

1803 – Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation

1812 – The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana

1900 – Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.

1904 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World’s Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri.

1956 – Former Vice President and Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia. He collapses after proclaiming “I would rather be a servant in the house of the lord than sit in the seats of the mighty.”

1975 – Fall of Saigon (or Liberation of Saigon from the Communist perspective): Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh.

The flag of the state of Maryland consists of the heraldic banner of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore. It is the only state flag in the United States to be based on English heraldry. (While the flag of Washington, D.C., is a representation of the coat of arms of the Washington family, Washington, D.C., is not a state.) It was officially adopted by Maryland in 1904.

The black and gold design on the flag is the coat of arms of the Calvert family. It was granted to George Calvert as a reward for his storming a fortification during a battle (the vertical bars approximate the bars of the palisade). The red and white design is the coat of arms of the Crossland family, the family of Calvert’s mother, and features a cross bottony. Since George Calvert’s mother was an heiress, he was entitled to use both coats of arms in his banner.

1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln, in Virginia.

The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna’sMexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen minutes. About 630 of the Mexican soldiers were killed and 730 captured, while only nine Texans died.

Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, was captured the following day and held as a prisoner of war. Three weeks later, he signed the peace treaty that dictated that the Mexican army leave the region, paving the way for the Republic of Texas to become an independent country. These treaties did not specifically recognize Texas as a sovereign nation, but stipulated that Santa Anna was to lobby for such recognition in Mexico City. Sam Houston became a national celebrity, and the Texans’ rallying cries, “Remember the Alamo!” and “Remember Goliad!” became etched into American history and legend.

Memorialization

The San Jacinto Monument

Today, the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site commemorates the battle and includes the San Jacinto Monument, the world’s tallest memorial column, at 570 feet (170 m). The park is located in La Porte, about 25 miles (40 km) east of downtown Houston. The monument contains an inscription, part of which reads:

“Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas from Mexico won here led to annexation and to the Mexican-American War, resulting in the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,Nevada, California, Utah and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma. Almost one-third of the present area of the American Nation, nearly a million square miles of territory, changed sovereignty.”

Both the Texas Navy and the United States Navy have commissioned ships named after the Battle of San Jacinto: the Texan schooner San Jacinto and three ships named USS San Jacinto.

An annual San Jacinto Day festival and battle reenactment is held in the month of April at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site.

The annual Fiesta celebration in San Antonio with three large parades, banquets, and numerous other events, celebrates the victory of San Jacinto and Texas independence.

Alfonso Steele, to whom a roadside park is dedicated in Limestone County, is generally credited as being the last remaining Texan survivor of the battle. He died on July 8, 1911.

In September 2001, Park Road 1836, connecting Battleground Road (formerly Texas State Highway 134) to the San Jacinto Monument Grounds near Houston, was renamed in Juan Seguin’s honor and Interstate 610/Texas State Highway 225 interchange in southeast Houston was named the “Juan N. Seguin Memorial Interchange.”

In the 20th century, the state of Texas erected various monuments and historical wayside markers to mark the path and campsites of Houston’s militia as it marched to San Jacinto.