HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Cub Scout Matthew Travis carries out the "Continental Colors," one of the seven flags exhibited during a Flag Day ceremony at the Bob Ruud Community Center. Advertisement

The United States of America actually had several flags during its history, according to a presentation on Flag Day by Pahrump Elks Lodge 4726 at the Bob Ruud Community Center Sunday.

Members of Cub Scout Pack 651 posted the different examples while Elks Inner Guard Martha Frame read the history of the flags.

In 1775 a committee recommended a design of 13 alternate stripes of red and white with an azure field in the upper corner, bearing the red cross of St. George and the white cross of St. Andrew. John Paul Jones, senior lieutenant of the flagship "Alfred," hoisted the flag Dec. 3, 1775, and a month later it was raised over the headquarters of General Washington at Cambridge, Mass.

The flag, dubbed "the Continental Colors" and "the Grand Union" was never carried in the field by Continental land forces, but it was used by the Navy as its exclusive ensign and was the first American flag to receive a salute of honor, of 11 guns from the Fort of Orange in the Dutch West Indies.

Congress on June 14, 1777, proclaimed the United States flag would be 13 stripes of alternating red and white and the union be 13 stars, white on a blue field. In 1776, a committee consisting of George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross commissioned Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia Quaker, to make a flag.

The sight of it flying over Fort McHenry on Sept. 14, 1814, inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner."

Congress adopted a resolution April 14, 1818, that the number of stripes would remain at 13 and a star should be added for each of the 20 states in the union, with a new star added for each new state admitted in the future.

Elks Club Flag Day Chairman Dennis London proclaimed in his speech: "Upon its folds is written the story of America, the epic of the mightiest and noblest in all history. In the days when people of the old world struggled in abject homage to the heresy of the divine right of kings, a new constellation appeared in the western skies: the stars and stripes, symbolizing the divine right of all to life, liberty, happiness and peace under endowments by their creator."

London said "it has been repurchased by each succeeding generation and must be re-won again and again."

The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have rekindled an interest in the flag, he said.

"Who among us will ever forget the sight of firefighters raising our flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center?" London said.

No other symbol could have offered such comfort as we still today endure the horrors of that day.

It has served as a beacon for millions of poor and oppressed refugees abroad," he said.

Elks Club Chaplain Ray Markwell remarked, "May this service bring to each of us a sense of loyalty to our country and enable us to be better patriots, truer citizens and more loyal Americans."