Folded American flag

How to read it

In the American Legion’s description the flag is folded lengthwise twice, with the stars kept outward, then folded in triangles from the striped end toward the blue union until only the blue shows, in the shape of a cocked (three-corner) hat. The Legion’s text says the shape recalls the soldiers who served under George Washington and the sailors and Marines under John Paul Jones. At a veteran’s graveside, traditional military funeral honors include the silent folding and presentation of the flag, a rifle salute and “Taps”, the Department of Veterans Affairs said in 2007. A flag lowered to half-staff is the Flag Code’s own mark of mourning.

Also searched as: 13 folds of the flag, flag folding meaning, folded flag, funeral flag, meaning of the 13 folds, triangle folded flag.

What do the 13 folds mean?

Nothing official. In 2007 Steve L. Muro, director of the National Cemetery Administration’s field programs office, wrote in a memo that “there are no federal laws related to the flag that assign any special meaning to the individual folds of the flag”, and a VA spokesman said the 13-fold recital is not part of the US Flag Code and is not government-approved, Fox News reported. The recitation gives each fold a meaning, beginning “the first fold of our flag is a symbol of life”, and the 13 folds are traditionally said to stand for the original colonies.

Who wrote the recitation

Nobody knows. The American Legion says the source and date of the flag-folding procedure are unknown: some attribute it to the Gold Star Mothers of America, others to an Air Force chaplain at the United States Air Force Academy, and others consider it an urban legend.

Reading it at a funeral

Muro’s memo of September 27, 2007 stopped the readings at national cemeteries and caused a furor among veterans. In November the VA clarified its policy: volunteer honor guards may read the 13-fold recitation or any comparable script when the family provides it and asks, and accept recitations reflecting any religious tradition or none, on an equal basis.