Tuesday, June 14, 2016

June 14--Flag Day USA; June 15--Flag Day Denmark

Flag Day, June 14,is winding down in the United States. But in Denmark it's Flag Day there already.


Flag Day in America commemorates the adoption of the earliest version of the Stars-and-Stripes by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. Denmark's Flag Day marks what's believed to be the first use of the current Danish flag, or Dannebrog, in 1219, when King Valdemar II defeated Estonian forces in the Battle of Lyndanisse. Dannebrog is the world's oldest continuously used national flag.

As far as I can gather Denmark and America have always been friends. The Danes are members of NATO and they've faced the ire of jihadis too--the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons ignited protests by Muslims in the Middle East and Europe and they still present a challenge to free expression.

One more bond. Alexander Hamilton spent part of his youth in the Danish West Indies, which are now the US Virgin Islands.

Happy Flag Day!

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