# US flag at half-mast: who orders? how? where mandatory? what reasons? "mourning" symbol only? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-at-half-mast-who-orders-how-where-mandatory-what-reasons-mourning-symbol-only/735845 "2015-10-27T04:19:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-at-half-mast-who-orders-how-where-mandatory-what-reasons-mourning-symbol-only/735845/21 "2015-10-28T00:47:35Z")
Perhaps as a testimony to the rank power such symbolism holds, witness the furor in England that at first the flag was not at half-staff over Buckingham Palace when Lady Di died. And it’s a particular meaningful part of British policy, as far as I could tell, that the whole point is that _that_ flag, over the symbol of the Government/British nation as a whole, _never_ is lowered: The King is Dead, Long Live the King–the flag never drops. But apparently many people in England didn’t get the memo, or, by 1997 they had become internationalized (if half-staff is more than USA) enough that nothing less was accepted. So against years of tradition (if not English law somewhere), the flag was flown at half staff. Just as the remarkable emotion (remarkable for Brits) was seen as novel with that event, apparently it was demanded that the Queen Herself express it, which she and her ministers wouldn’t do until it became too big a political issue. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-at-half-mast-who-orders-how-where-mandatory-what-reasons-mourning-symbol-only/735845/22 "2015-10-28T20:35:18Z")
Back in the 80s my brother worked as an armed security guard at a Presidential library (i.e. it was under federal jurisdiction). He worked the night shift so it was also his job to hoist the flag up each morning. The day after the shuttle Challenger disaster he received an official memo stating that the flag was to be put at half-staff that morning. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-at-half-mast-who-orders-how-where-mandatory-what-reasons-mourning-symbol-only/735845/23 "2015-10-28T20:57:36Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I remember surprise in learning the proper way to dispose of a flag no longer suitable for display (faded, worn, etc) is to _ **burn** _ it - in a dignified way, but yes, burn it. > > It makes sense because we never want to see Old Glory in the trash bin. Doesn’t this release all sorts of toxic fumes? Flags are plastic, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-at-half-mast-who-orders-how-where-mandatory-what-reasons-mourning-symbol-only/735845/24 "2015-10-29T00:04:06Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Doesn’t this release all sorts of toxic fumes? Flags are plastic, aren’t they? Usually cotton. All-weather flags are nylon. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-at-half-mast-who-orders-how-where-mandatory-what-reasons-mourning-symbol-only/735845/25 "2015-11-06T00:35:00Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Your memories stirred mine of the Boy Scouts and first learning to render respect to our flag, and remembering those times when reading some of the Flag Code as a young military man. I remember surprise in learning the proper way to dispose of a flag no longer suitable for display (faded, worn, etc) is to _ **burn** _ it - in a dignified way, but yes, burn it. > > It makes sense because we never want to see Old Glory in the trash bin. > [@Reply](#): > > Doesn’t this release all sorts of toxic fumes? Flags are plastic, aren’t they? > [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Usually cotton. All-weather flags are nylon. Some are nylon, some polyester. I just replaced a faded polyester flag with a new nylon flag, and burned the old one. I will never do that again. It released large clouds of noxious black smoke and left a pile of messy plastic ash that I haven’t yet cleaned out of my metal firepit. As far as I’m concerned, from now on, old flags made out of synthetic materials go in the trash. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-at-half-mast-who-orders-how-where-mandatory-what-reasons-mourning-symbol-only/735845.md?page=1)