How to Fold an American Flag

The U.S. Flag Code specifies many things about the handling, display, and even disposal of an American flag. However, U.S. statute does not provide details about the folding of an American flag, and the origins of the currently accepted method are obscure. One likely explanation is the assimilation of practices from European militaries about the time of World Wars I and II, as the U.S. technique is fundamentally identical to the way the Royal Navy folds the Union Jack at funerals.

The retirement of NATO’s headquarters building in Brussels in 2019 saw the simultaneous lowering of the flags of all the organization’s members. The ceremony offered a rare opportunity to see the flag-folding procedures of dozens of countries at once. While the triangular fold used for the Stars and Stripes was not typical, it was far from unique.