WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — People across the country celebrated stars and stripes for Flag Day on Sunday.
The national holiday commemorates the adoption of the flag of the U.S. on June 14, 1777 — the day when the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution.
One of those people celebrating was West Valley City resident Michael De Groote.
“It’s just been used for centuries to say, ‘Here we are, rally around this!’” De Groote said. “A lot of people don’t realize how often the American flag was changed."
“It’s flag day, so what’s better to do on flag day than to have flags?” he said while standing in his front yard full of American flags.
For nearly 15 years, De Groote has been fascinated by flags and their history. FOX 13 News asked him why he’s obsessed with flags.
“Oh, I don’t know if I’m obsessed,” he said. "My wife does call me a flag freak."
Still, De Groote knows the details some overlook.
“One thing that’s interesting is if you look at the Brigham Young flag, you’ll notice that those stars are clocked so that the point is down, not pointed up like what we normally see. That's because it’s a rising star and people would often talk about Utah as the rising star,” he explained.
For De Groote, flags carry both history and meaning.
“You look at that and you feel something because you associate it with things in your life,” he said. “I think of my father-in-law. He was 93 years old and a soldier in the Korean War. When he died, and as they were wheeling him out of the room, they had a flag over him. I just thought that was about remembering the sacrifices he made.”
De Groote says the flag is more than fabric.
“It’s not just an object,” he said. “It’s an object that’s kinetic, it moves, and it’s connected with the fabric of us as a country and a state.”
