
DATE: Saturday, June 14, 1997               TAG: 9706140133

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: PHOTO ESSAY 

SOURCE: BY ADAM BERNSTEIN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   47 lines

STAR-SPANGLED BANNERON FLAG DAY, WE SALUTE THE STARS AND STRIPES, AND LOOK AT HOW IT HAS SERVED AS A SYMBOL OF OUR NATION'S VALUES

FOR A PIECE of cloth, the U.S. flag has inspired many muses and many uses.

The flag has spurred all sorts of artists to compose odes, to pay homage to its greatness.

``It's a grand old flag, it's a high-flying flag. . . .''

Today, as on every Flag Day, the flag endures as a testament to patriotism. Fallen servicemen and women. Freedom of speech, religion, expression - even the much-maligned press.

But there's more to the flag than that.

Certainly part of our culture - some would say the core of it - is capitalism. Many adopt the flag to appeal to the wallet, to imbue their wares with the spirit of national pride. Case in point is the photograph here of a school of flags flapping above a used-car lot.

The flag can even be a subversive symbol when turned against itself. Remember the motorcycle in the 1969 film ``Easy Rider''?

Issues of flag desecration continue to provoke political action. A constitutional amendment aimed at flag-burning passed the U.S. House just last week. The Senate, however, turned down a similar measure two years ago and may do so again.

Ironically, flag-burning is encouraged at times.

``When a flag is worn down, you don't bury it, you burn it, like an offering to the gods,'' said Joe Goldenberg, the history department chairman at Virginia State University in Chesterfield County. ILLUSTRATION: [Color] PHOTOS BY BILL TIERNAN

The Virginian-Pilot

ABOVE: Flags and used cars seem to go together in our culture. The

scene is a used car lot along Little Creek Road in Norfolk.

ABOVE: A flag waves in the breeze on a Surry COunty porch. BELOW

LEFT: A painted flag adorns the side of a building in Virginia

Beach.

RIGHT: A flag is held by a Marine color guard member during last

week's change of command at the Norfolk Naval Base. KEYWORDS: FLAG DAY