Today is Flag Day, and here in Maine as well as across the country people are gathering to participate in ceremonies celebrating the Stars and Stripes.

According to the Internet, Flag Day originated in the late 1800s when several individuals and organizations urged people to display the flag on this day and participate in “appropriate exercises” recognizing the American flag.

The date appears to have been chosen because it was June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act.

The Flag Act authorized that the symbol of our new nation be “made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.”

Through the years, schoolchildren and others gathered in towns and cities large and small for a variety of celebrations honoring this symbol of America.

But it wasn’t until 1949 that President Truman signed an act of Congress designating this date each year as national Flag Day.

Two Flag Day events are scheduled for Greater Bangor, the traditional Flag Day ceremony at 11 a.m. and a special Flag Day celebration at 6 p.m. today, both at the Bangor waterfront.

In Skowhegan, however, public Flag Day ceremonies will be held one day later.

Flag Day will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 15, at the Skowhegan-Madison Elks Lodge, where Elks officers will conduct the event assisted by members of local Scout groups.

Following the ceremony, a barbecue lunch of hot dogs, hamburgers and soda will be available.

In case of inclement weather, the event will be held inside the Elks lodge.

The NEWS received a great letter from Martha Stepp, a fourth-grade teacher at the Weatherbee School in Hampden, who wrote that a recent edition of the Mini Page in our paper “talked about good citizenship and our nation’s flag.”

Stepp asked her class to watch for all the places flags were being displayed during one week, and the class came up with the following list.

In answer to the question “Where is Our Flag?” her pupils found flags on the following: a bicycle, a pole, a mailbox, a play set, a garage, a bus, a car, a shirt, a truck, a piece of slate and a door.

They also found an American flag on a church, a telephone pole, a house, a firetruck, a bulletin board, a driveway, a police car, a satellite dish, a building, a sticker and a tree.

There were American flags on a Post-it note, cement towers, a helicopter, socks, grass, a plane, a fence, the top of a building, a pumpkin, a bathing suit, a Beanie Baby and a wall.

Flags were found on a face, a football helmet, a cast, a baseball uniform, a poster, pants, a jar, a cake, a cell phone, a stained-glass window and a cupcake.

Other youngsters found them on boxers, a map, a lunchbox, a bookmark, a roof, a necklace, a hair bow and shoes.

Flags also were spotted in a window, in front of the school, in their classroom, as a pin, in a cemetery, over a front door, between telephone poles, sticking out of a pocket, as a headband, as a rug and as earrings.

Stepp describes these sightings as “pride in our country as seen through the eyes of fourth-graders.”

That’s quite a list, and we thank the youngsters for bringing to our attention such a variety of ways to display the flag!

Although this letter was written some time ago, I feel it is appropriate that it appear in our paper today.

Ginny Sand-Roy of Waterville, who proudly proclaims herself the “wife of a Vietnam Veteran,” wrote the NEWS “to deeply thank all those veterans who served our country during the Vietnam Conflict-War, and also for continuing to serve their communities even now.”

And, finally, this Flag Day, I received a letter from Sharon Buswell, representing the Committee for the Corinth Veterans Honor Roll and American Legion Post 115 of Corinth, providing a progress report in that group’s quest to validate names and gather information for the Corinth Veterans Military Honor Roll.

Buswell reports the committee has been working for three years, searching for the names of veterans who entered the service from the Corinth or who live in that community.

To help with that effort, American Legion Post 115 will be manning a booth during the Corinth Old Home Days celebration Saturday, June 22, in front of the American Legion Hall.

The current list of names will be displayed, and Buswell encourages “veterans, or family members and friends, to please stop by the booth, view the list of names, and assist us with making additions, corrections or deletions.”

The proposed dedication date is Nov. 11, 2003, and the committee has set a deadline for adding names to the list of May 1, 2003.

Any comments, communications or requests for information can be mailed to Corinth Veterans Monument, P.O. Box 21, Corinth 04427.

Buswell asks that “if you are requesting to add a name to the list, please include a copy of the veteran’s discharge paper, DD214.”

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.