The Warren Elks Lodge 223 has been holding commemorations for Flag Day – June 14 – since 1908. That tradition continued this week.

“The purpose of this service is to honor our country’s flag,” Todd Honhart said, noting that it’s appropriate that the Order of Elks conduct the commemoration as it is a distinctly American organization.

The speaker for the event was U.S. Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Andrew Scarcella.

A 1990 Warren Area High School grad, Scarcella was promoted to the rank earlier this year and serves as Deputy Commanding General – Support for the 88th Readiness Division at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. He resides in Alexandria, Va.

Times Observer photos by Josh Cotton Scouts from Troop 13 including, here, Isaac Zapel, presented the various editions of the American flag during

Scarcella said he held one of the flags for this event 40 years ago.

“I learned appreciation of the flag growing up in Warren,” he said.

Scarcella said the flag is not just a symbol of our country but also of our culture and is the “one thing that unites us all as Americans.”

He said he can say from experience that the world is still a dangerous place and asked those in attendance to put aside “lively debate” and reflect on the freedoms we have today and those who fought to preserve those freedoms and our way of life.

The specific day, June 14, ties back to June 14, 1777, when the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution stating 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.”

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and President Calvin Coolidge again in 1927 issued proclamations for June 14 to be observed as National Flag Day but it would be another 20 years before Congress in 1949 approved – and President Harry Truman signed – a bill that Flag Day be a national observance.