Happy birthday America! In the spirit of our 248th birthday, I did a little Google search to see if I could learn, or relearn, a few facts about the birth of our nation. So, we remember that the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence on the 4th. Well, not exactly, it happened on July 2nd but there was a process required to complete the revisions that were voted on so the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson in consultation with John Adams, Ben Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Bill Livingston, was actually signed on the 4th.

Now about our Stars and Strips National flag. It was formally approved by the Continental Congress on 14 June 1777. The “Flag Resolution” read “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing the new constellation.” Initially, the layout of the stars was left undefined and flag makers came up with their own variation. The likely designer of the flag, Congressman Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Philadelphia, probably was the one who came up with the ring of stars to symbolize the new constellation. The first use of the new Stars and Strips was on 11 September 1777 when the military carried it at the Battle of Brandywine. Since the initial flag was designed, there have been 27 changes, 25 of them were made to the stars. It was in 1818 that the law was passed that the number of stars on the flag must always reflect the number of states in the United States with the new stars added to the flag on July 4th in the year following their admission. So, Hawaii was the last state admitted in 1959 so the 50th star was officially added on July 4th, 1960. And for the trivia fans, the flag’s width-to-length ratio is 10 to 19.

Here is another 4th of July trivia fact, three Founding Father Presidents—John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe—died on July 4, the Independence Day anniversary. And, well, maybe not a fact but it is expected celebrants are expected to consume somewhere in the realm of 150 million hot dogs on the 4th.

It is so fitting that we now have the banners of our community members who served in the military proudly displayed around the peninsula. While they represent individuals who served, they remind us of all those who served, those that allow us to celebrate our independence from Great Britain and through the 248 years of way too many conflicts that allow us to enjoy the freedoms we have today and the freedoms our forefathers dreamed we would have. We should also remember the communities that supported those who served. They made sacrifices; they ensured the industrial complex provided the resources necessary to ensure we remained the greatest country on the planet. God Bless America!