The OP is half right as shown below from an article on flag protocols for Memorial Day.
On Memorial Day, special protocols are observed.
The flag should fly at the half-staff position until noon only, and then be raised to the top of the staff for the remainder of the day.
This custom, unique to Memorial Day, honors the war dead in the morning of Memorial Day, but then the flag is raised to full-staff at noon by the living, “who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.”
The custom appears to date back to at least 1906, when an Army regulations book included instructions for the procedure. Congress made it a permanent part of the U.S. Code (Title 4, Section 6) with the proclamation: “For the nation lives, and the flag is a symbol of illumination.”
So it is raised by the living at noon but not to honor living veterans. I am a veteran and I kind of cringe when someone wants to honor or recognize living veterans on Memorial Day. Let’s keep the day to recognize those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Every other day we can recognize living veterans.
|