Off The Record: You’re a grand old flag!

By Chris Spangler

Being home more due to COVID-19, it is amazing how many package deliveries I’ve been seeing in the neighborhood. If it isn’t the U.S. Postal Service (on a Sunday, even!), then its FedEx, UPS, Amazon Prime, Speedee or some other delivery service slowly cruising by to read addresses.

The other day, I was pleasantly surprised to see the postal carrier stop his truck out front and then walk up my sidewalk with a large flat-rate box under his arm. I wasn’t expecting anything, so it was the highlight of my day.

Inside was an American flag, folded in the customary triangle, with a certificate from the state Senate indicating that it had been flown over the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison on Feb. 2, 2021, at the request of state Sen. Steve Nass.

It stated that it was done so “in recognition of Christine Spangler for her 42 ½ years of service to Fort Atkinson as a reporter, editor and managing editor of the Daily Jefferson County Union.”

An accompanying note in the senator’s hand stated that the flag was a “token of appreciation from the 11^th Senate District in appreciation for all your years of service providing information and news coverage to “We, the People.”

I was pleased for two reasons: First, it always is nice to receive kudos for a job someone other than yourself thinks was well done, particularly one that consumed nearly two-thirds of your life.

Second, Feb. 2 happened to have been my maternal grandmother’s birthday. Blanche Petter would have turned 129 on that day, were she still with us.

I tried to Google how many flags state legislators present to constituents in a year, but was unable to find anything. However, I did locate interesting information about American flags flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.

It was in 1937 when a member of Congress requested a flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol. That kicked off a program that gradually expanded to encompass the commemoration of national holidays and various special events, as well as to honor the work of groups such as schools and civic organizations.

Requests for Capitol flags rapidly outgrew the supply, and an official Flag Office was created in the 1950s. 

A record 5,131 flags were flown over the Capitol on the day that Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959, and two special Capitol flags traveled to the moon and back in July 1969. Speaker of the House John McCormack of Massachusetts and Vice President Spiro Agnew received the flags at a special Joint Meeting of Congress.

Then came the nation’s Bicentennial in 1976. On July 4th of that year, 10,471 flags flew over the U.S. Capitol, a single-day record. To accommodate the unusually high volume of flag requests, the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) installed 18 temporary flagpoles on top of the building and employed a hoist to raise and lower large shipping pallets of flag boxes to and from the roof of the Capitol. 

Beginning at 12:01 a.m., an assembly line of workers, under the direction of Architect of the Capitol George White, completed the monumental task in nine hours, having worked through the night. In all, 69,856 flags (50-star flags and traditional “Betsy Ross” flags) were flown over the Capitol during the summer of 1976. 

That program has continued, so that the AOC fulfills on average more than 100,000 flag requests from members of Congress each year, and these are flown on the special flagpoles.

But back to Madison and my state Capitol flag.

I am honored that Sen. Nass thought enough of my four-plus decades at the Daily Union to present me with a commemorative American flag. It represents a mutual respect of the responsibilities shouldered by the men and women elected to the legislative branch of government and the journalists who cover them in the fourth estate.

In a way, we all are working on behalf of “We, the People.”

Thanks, Senator Nass.