VFW Celebrates Flag Day and our United States Army's Birthday

June 14th .... On this Flag Day, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) not only salutes America’s banner of freedom, but also the nation’s first military branch to defend it – the United States Army.

On June 14, 1775, the following entry was written into the journal of the Second Continental

Congress: “Resolved, that six companies of expert rifleman, be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia ... [and] as soon as completed, shall march and join the army near Boston, to be there employed as light infantry, under the command of the chief officer in that army."

This resolution gave birth to the Continental Army, changing the course of the war for American independence and the history of the world forever. Exactly two years later, on June 14, 1777, Congress would pass another resolution, this time adopting a flag to represent the new nation. “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” The ‘Stars and Stripes’ as it was commonly called, not only symbolized the union of the thirteen colonies and their cause, but it also became the standard the ‘Continentals’ would bear into every battle defending American liberty. Even today, every American soldier carries the colors in the form of a U.S. flag patch on the right shoulder of their combat uniform.

The 1.5 million members of the VFW and its Auxiliary encourages every American to honor the colors that represent all of us and say ‘happy 248th birthday’ to every active, Guard and Reserve soldier and “Soldier For Life” of the nation’s oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. “This We’ll Defend!”

On this day, 2023, members of Woodridge VFW Post 1578, along with Fire Fighters from Station 52 of the Lisle/Woodridge Fire District, combined to properly retire around 1,000 American Flags at the Woodridge Park District Community Gardens site. Post 1578 manages 3 Flag disposal boxes located around Woodridge and properly stores the worn flags until this annual event. They are located in the lobby of the village Police/Public works building, just before the narthex at St. Scholastica, and at Woodridge United Methodist church. A fourth box is located in the main lobby of the Darien/Woodridge Fire department on Lyman (by Walmart) but this box is now managed by Darien VFW. The unified effort of these three Woodridge community resources, make this annual ceremony a success. It is an honor to provide this service to the patriotic citizens of Woodridge!