Elks honor U.S. flag during special ceremony

By Pete Fontaine
Posted 6/29/17

A tradition returns, with all its old glory.

From the table tops to the walls, one of the nation’s most prized possessions – the American flag – was prominently displayed in a variety of …

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Elks honor U.S. flag during special ceremony

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A tradition returns, with all its old glory.

From the table tops to the walls, one of the nation’s most prized possessions – the American flag – was prominently displayed in a variety of editions during an impressive Flag Day Ceremony that filled the Johnston Senior Center’s multi-purpose room.

“We absolutely love hosting this special day,” said Tony Zompa, the JSC’s executive director. “We’re glad to have it back.”

For some seven or eight years, the Tri-City Elks Lodge No. 14 from Warwick – which is the result of a huge merger between groups from Providence, Cranston and other areas – has held its annual Flag Day Ceremony in Johnston.

It was both by request and a mandate of the Elks National Headquarters that local lodges around the country put on a Flag Day Ritual Ceremony, an event that includes unmatched pomp and circumstance and in some cases patriotic music on June 14.

However, because of a scheduling difficulty, Flag Day was missing from the JSC’s 2016 calendar. Enter Millie Santilli, the JSC’s assistant director, who contacted Donna Warner, former Exalted Ruler of Lodge 14 who now chairs that ceremony for the Tri-City Elks. After a brief meeting, the two decided to bring the Flag Day Ceremony back to Johnston.

“If for no other reason, people get a first-hand lesson about the history of our flag,” Zompa said. “It’s certainly a colorful event and everyone here identifies with the many changes in our flag.”

Warner, meanwhile, added while reading from a sheet inside the ritual program: “Heraldry is as old as the human race. The carrying of banners has been a custom among all people in all ages. These banners usually contain some concept of the life or government of those who fashion them. The evolution of the American Flag marks the progression of the government of the American people.”

The recent Flag Day Ceremony told the complete story of the flag; from the founding of Jamestown in Virginia in 1607 until 1775, the Flag of England was the flag of the peoples of America.

Then in 1775, the Pine Tree Flag was adopted for all colonial vessels and this was the banner carried by the Continental forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill. There were other flags, like the Snake Flag of Southern colonies from 1776 to 1777 to the response to a generals demand for a banner more representative of our country, the Congress on June 14, 1777, provided “that the Flag of the United States be 13 stars and stripes of alternating red and white and that the union be 13 stars, white on a blue field representing a new constellation.”

Every flag until today’s American flag – which was changed on July 4, 1960 and now features 50 stars for all 50 states and 13 stripes for the original 13 colonies - was on display during the Elks presentation.

While seven Elks – Exalted Ruler Lori Eaton, Ann Licciardi, Deborah Mangine, Marianne Beirne, Carol Delory, Bill Hall and Dick Warner – performed the readings and ritual – nine Tri-City members served as flag bearers and throughout the brief yet spine-tingling historic presentation proudly held the different flags including the POW-MIA flag.

Those flag bearers were: Mark Eaton, District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler; Betty Manna, Mike Scanlon, Marilyn Walaska, Brian Tonge, Chuck Nelson, Maureen Nelson and Albert “Cookie” Delory.

Perhaps Lori Eaton, who wanted to make sure Flag Day was back on the Tri-City Elks 2017 schedule, best described the ceremony.

“It was without question a pleasure to again hold our Flag Day Ceremony in Johnston,” she said. “Everyone at the Senior Center is very receptive and appreciative of our ritual. To hear everyone sing our National Anthem and God Bless America brought tears to my eyes. This was very, very moving.”

 

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