Displaying A Memorial Flag Correctly
Posted: Friday, February 29, 2008
by Richard MFDC
Military Flag Display Cases
Displaying a Burial Flag is usually something that most people do not give much thought about. You may see a flag that is displayed and think "wow, I wish mine was displayed like that". We will cover the "How to's" here and hopefully have a few photos for you to see. If photos are not available, you may visit my site where they are.
Here is how to fold a Burial Flag so that the End result will give you that perfect look.
-Just to let you know: There is no disrespect involved in refolding a Memorial Flag.-
* This is a two person task.*
First have flag unfolded and one person at each end of flag (one near the stripes and one at the stars.)
1)Fold flag in half (long ways) two times. You will now have a long rectangle (approx. 15 or 16 inches wide and 9'6" long).(Brass ring holes up and to the right of the folders view)
2)Start at the "stripes" end and fold from bottom right, up towards the left to create a triangle. Continue folding flag (end over end) until you have "less than" a full fold left over. Place the excess in the crease (flag layers) to keep flag together.
If you turn this flag over and see three full star on the bottom and One on top (with portions of others), you are done. If your stars do not look like this (most wont), please read on.
*Not all burial flags are exactly 5 foot by 9 1/2 foot. They very considerably. This first step will define where the stars will set in your triangle on the last fold. Please pay attention.
2a) On this First fold, insted of a full fold make a 3/4 fold. If your overall width is 15" make the first fold at 13" . (see chart for details,click on my link below, go to Articles-Flag Displaying) On the chart, this shows A,B,C and D. A is for the first try, how to see where your stars line up. B,C and D show you how to start with a partial fold, then continue the fold until you just have enough for tucking into the crease. Adjust the size of the first fold until you get your stars just the way you want them.
The thing about 5' x 9.5' burial flags are that they are manufactured from various companies. These companies may start with 5'x9.5' measurements, but after turning and sewing the ends they usually are various sizes. I have 4 burial flags and none of them are the same measurements.
Thank you for reading and email me from my site if you have any questions.
Richard (MFDC) ( Flag Case Displays )
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)I have a display case for my fathers flag. It contains the spent shells from the salute. Does the brass name plate go to the right or left of those shells, when you are looking at it? Thank you for any help JimJames: May I ask you to contact me through my site? I would like very much to know a few details about your question. The reason is, there are some variables to this. How many casings do you have; do you have a photo of this case and the brass name plate; where are these being placed, inside or outside of the case? I usually make room for the casings inside of the case. If you can email me we can get this right for you. Richard.
Want to thank you for the information wanted for some time to refold my fathers flag and didn't know how to go about it. Not folding it but the relevance to refolding so thank you
I am curious what information people typically put on the brass plate when it is just the flag in the display case?Bret: When inscribing a brass name plate, my customers usually put the persons "name and rank" on the first line. The second line would be the dates that they were with us (June 10, 1933 - Aug.2, 2009). Now that is what I see the most of, however you can put Anything you wish on that name plate, they are your loved one, you decide. There is No wrong inscription. Hope this helps. Richard (MFDC)
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