Symbol of “worldwide hope” and the “American way of life.”

Tuesday was Flag Day and the Warren Elks Lodge hosted its 110th ceremony to commemorate and honor the flag.

Boy Scouts with Troop 8 and Troop 13 presented each of the nation’s banners while Mark Silvis presented the history of the flag.

The Order of Elks have a long history with Flag Day.

History from the Order of Elks indicates that the Grand Lodge designated by resolution June 14 as Flag Day, mandating observances at each lodge in 1917.

The Elks prompted President Woodrow Wilson to recognize the observance of Flag Day, a step not taken until then-President Harry Truman declared it a national observance.

The Warren Elks have presented a Flag Day program since 1908.

The date ties back to June 14, 1777, when the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution that

“Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

Elks Exalted Ruler Todd Honhart noted that 2022 marks the club’s 130 year of service to Warren County and that the “cardinal principles of the order” are also emblematic of the flag – charity, justice, brotherly love and fidelity.

Guest Speaker Alex Watkins asked those in attendance to “recall occasions when you came across the flag.”

He said that one of the most profound for him is seeing his father’s flag-draped casket as well as all the ways that his experiences in Scouting have brought him in touch with the flag.

He cited the Scout handbook that states that the flag “stands for the past present and future of our country.”

Honhart asked attendees to “rededicate ourselves” to the flag’s meaning, stressing the need to remember what the flag represents now more than ever.