The Unflagged Pole

Dr. Herbert Huebener Beck of Lancaster, Pa. is a man who can take an active interest at the drop of an oriole's egg, a pine cone or a test tube. At 71 he is president of the Lancaster County Historical Society, belongs to the American Chemical Society, the American Ornithologists Union and the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. He is also custodian of the Audubon Society's sanctuary for bald eagles on Mount Johnson Island in the lower Susquehanna River.

Last December he developed a new interest: Maryland's ancient, star-shaped Fort McHenry, which in 1814 was the target of the bombardment referred to in The Star-Spangled Banner. He sat down almost at once and wrote the National Park Service a letter. It began:

"Recently I was coming up the Patapsco River toward Baltimore. The time--at the twilight's last gleaming. My eyes could be turned in only one direction--toward Fort McHenry to see that our flag was still there. It was not. At the classic flagpole spot where at noon 'the broad stripes and bright stars o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming,' there was nothing but the dim line of a naked pole. . . . That unflagged pole was one of the bitterest disappointments of my life. . . ."

Low Visibility. This stirred up rats' nests of red tape in Park Service offices in Washington, Chicago, Baltimore and Richmond, Va. Last week the Park Service began flying the flag both night* & day over Fort McHenry's carefully reconstructed ramparts.

The fort's custodian had certain difficulties. For one thing, he had only one floodlight, and the flag flapped in darkness if the wind turned. For another, flags cost $17 apiece; due to increased wear & tear he was using one a week and rapidly running out of funds. But the final lines of Dr. Beck's letter made it clear that there could be no hanky-panky about the matter.

"Soon again," he wrote, "I hope to be coming up the Patapsco at midnight. There will be a Chesapeake blizzard. Visibility will be low. But gloriously floodlighted on Fort McHenry will be the driving Star-Spangled Banner, giving proof to the world that our flag is always there."

*Generally, according to a large body of dogma bordering on idolatry, the flag must be lowered at sundown. But there are many exceptions. It may be displayed after dark for "patriotic effect." It is flown at night from forts and naval vessels which are engaged with an enemy, and also over the east and west fronts of the Capitol Building in Washington, over the grave of Francis Scott Key in Frederick, Md., and over the war memorial at Worcester, Mass., built as an architectural dramatization of the colors.

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