Pre-Pledge Tribute for week of November 17 - 23 - FLAG STEWARD - Caretaker of Our Flag (half-staff alerts)

[ Due to the short, holiday school week, there will not be a Pre-Pledge Tribute this week. ]

[ Note: We recommend 3 student-speakers lead and read aloud the 3 parts of the pre-Pledge ceremony. And, assign 1 student to handle the ceremony tech - showing with a laptop or mobile device the ceremony on a screen. Select the 4 presenting students on Monday or Tuesday and have them practice the Pre-PLedge Tribute so on Friday they can give a good, clear, loud ceremony for their classmates ;) Do not read aloud any text with [ brackets ] around it. ONLY READ THE TEXT IN BLUE. ]

[ SPEAKER 1 - read blue text only]

Good morning / afternoon / evening, __(insert name of your group - like "Heritage Elementary" or "Scout Troop" or "Rotary Club")__.
Welcome to the Pre-Pledge Tribute for the week of November 17th - 23rd

Half-Staff Alerts for November 24
The U.S. Flag is FULL STAFF across 46 of 50 states
...The U.S. & State Flags across the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma are half-staff...
...The State Flags only across CONNECTICUT and VIRGINIA are half-staff...
...And, locally, all Flags in Hawthorne, New Jersey, the City of Flint, Michigan and the City of Augusta and across Richmond County, GA are half-staff...

[ GO HERE to review details about the half-staffs and their honorees - including portraits ]

[ SPEAKER 2 - read blue text only ]

THIS WEEK'S REMINDER FROM OUR FLAG:
... Lincoln's most famous speech ...

[ public domain pics = arrow points to Lincoln, without his top hat on, amongst crowd gathered to hear his speech (Nov. 19, 1863) & below Union soldiers killed in action lie on the battlefield at Gettysburg (July 5, 1863) ]

During this week in U.S. History, on Novermber 19th of 1863, to be exact, President Abe Lincoln performed a short speech at the dedication of the new cemetery for those killed four months earlier at the Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln stood up and delivered his speech, called the 'Gettysburg Address,' in less than two minutes. The crowd did not seemed impressed by his speech at first. But, later on, after reading his address in newsprint across the USA, folks realized this speech symbolized what equality and freedom, and the Civil War to defend it, was all about. The Gettysburg Address has gone on to be one of America's most famous, and probably most recited speeches.

[Note: Optional activity for teacher and/or students to do...]
Now, it's your turn to recite it.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

[ SPEAKER 3 - read blue text only ]
THIS WEEK'S FALLEN PATRIOTS TO HONOR:

[ public domain pic = Gettysburg National Cemetery in July 1913 - 50 years after the Battle of Gettysburg ]

In honor of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, we're taking time from our current 'Fallen Patriots to Honor' to remember the more 23,000 Union soldiers who were killed at the Battle of Gettysburg - of which just over 3,500 are buried at the Gettysburg National Cemetery pictured above. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten in what many consider the battle that was the turning point in the war - which ended in a Union (U.S. military) victory in April 1865 and freed slaves across the South and North.

Now, stand, place your hand upon your heart, and make this Pledge of Allegiance more meaningful, by honoring Our Flag and all the inspiring stories it tells - like that of Abe Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and his call that our "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Thanks for participating in today's
Flag Steward Pre-Pledge Tribute
Now, go be a stud citizen!!!

################
END OF CEREMONY
################

In God We Trust
(Official motto of the United States of America)

The U.S. Flag Code:
provides Our Flag's Rules and Regulations

[HIGHLIGHTS OF: The U.S. Flag Code stating how citizens should conduct themselves during this ceremony is below.]

Title 36, Chapter 10 PATRIOTIC CUSTOMS
National anthem; Star-Spangled Banner, conduct during playing:
During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and retain this position until the last note. When the flag is not displayed, those present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed there.
Note: A new law was passed on October 30, 2008 that authorizes veterans and active-duty military not in uniform can now render the military-style hand salute during the playing of the national anthem. This publication is currently being updated to reflect the new law.

Pledge of Allegiance to the flag; manner of delivery:
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.", should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.