The 15-star, 15-stripe Star Spangled Banner Flag
Nebraskans are getting ready to take part in the nationwide celebration of the song most-identified with America.
While flags across Nebraska are at half-staff on this Patriot Day to remember the terrorist attacks 13 years ago, tomorrow marks the bicentennial of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
It was 200 years ago when Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics, describing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, which actually lasted three years.
While the song lasts just over a minute, for some Nebraskans, the anthem has deep meaning.
So Friday, instead of “Happy Birthday,” Americans from coast to coast will gather in schools, libraries and at football games to sing the anthem in celebration of a poem written two centuries ago.