OAK CREEK, Wis. – August 14, 2026 – Eder Flag, the employee-owned American flag and flagpole manufacturer founded in 1887, has published two new display guides ahead of September’s national observances, covering half-staff protocol for Patriot Day on September 11 and the display of the POW/MIA flag ahead of National POW/MIA Recognition Day on September 18.
Both observances fall in the same three weeks, both involve display rules that are widely misunderstood, and both arrive after a summer in which many households will have flown the same flag through heat, storms, and continuous sun.
Why the Half-Staff Guidance Matters Half-staff is the most visible flag protocol in American public life and the one most often performed incorrectly. The guidance sets out the step most people skip, which is that a flag is raised briskly to the peak of the pole and held there before being lowered to the half-staff position, and reversed at the end of the day.
It also addresses the fixed annual observances that carry their own rules, including the Memorial Day convention under which the flag flies at half-staff only until noon before being raised to full height. For Patriot Day, the flag remains at half-staff for the full day.
The guidance explains that only the President, a state governor, or the mayor of the District of Columbia may order half-staff, that the scope of an order tells the observer which authority issued it, and that private citizens are not bound by any of it. It deliberately does not publish a current half-staff status, directing readers to proclamation sources instead.
What the POW/MIA Guide Covers The second guide addresses the black and white flag flown for American prisoners of war and service members still listed as missing. It covers the flag’s origin with the National League of Families in the early 1970s, its formal recognition by Congress in 1990, the six federal days on which designated government properties display it, and the correct order when it shares a pole with the United States flag.
It also flags a practical point owners overlook, which is that two flags on one halyard present considerably more sail area than one, and that a pole rated for a single flag of a given size may not be rated for two.
A Direct Connection to September 11 Eder Flag has a documented connection to the date. The American flag raised by three firefighters in the rubble at Ground Zero on September 11, 2001, photographed by Thomas Franklin and later donated to the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York after forensic authentication, was traced back to Eder Flag and was manufactured at the company’s Oak Creek, Wisconsin facility. The full account is published on the company’s website at https://ederflag.com/pages/9-11-flag-story-page.
About Eder Flag
Eder Flag was founded in 1887 by seven Eder brothers and has manufactured flags since 1903. The company is the nation’s largest manufacturer of both flags and flagpoles, produces its flags and poles in the United States, and has been employee-owned since 2016. Its products are sold direct and through a national dealer network. More information is available at https://ederflag.com/pages/about-us.
Media Contact Eder Flag Oak Creek, Wisconsin https://ederflag.com/pages/contact-us
Media ContactCompany Name: Eder Flag Manufacturing Company, IncContact Person: Media RelationsEmail: Send EmailPhone: 414 764-3522City: Oak CreekCountry: United StatesWebsite: https://ederflag.com/
