Never Forget . . . Proper Flag Etiquette

When dealing with an important national symbolic gesture like placing the first beam at the Freedom Tower site, remember that stuff like proper flag etiquette is important:

An American flag plastered on the first steel column for the Freedom Tower was removed yesterday after the builders realized the stars and stripes were on the wrong side of the flag.

The Port Authority removed the decal on the 31-foot column after media outlets and readers questioned the display of the flag, with the 50 stars on the right side instead of the left.

Federal flag code requires that, whether displayed horizontally or vertically, the blue field displaying 50 stars is always on the left side to the viewer. When construction workers put the decal onto the column as it lay on its side at Ground Zero, the stars were on the left and in the correct spot, said PA spokesman Steve Coleman.

Once a giant crane raised the column and the flag was displayed vertically, “it was inadvertently put in the wrong position,” Coleman said.

(Let the good folks who snapped up the “ushistory.org” domain explain the rest of it.)