FORT SILL, Okla. -- The 240th Army birthday and Flag Day were marked with rainfall and an abbreviated celebration June 12 inside McNair Hall.
The clouds broke overhead and the attendees shuffled up the Fires Center of Excellence headquarters' stairs while Soldiers and the protocol staff members put away the Army, American flags and other historic flags for in the ceremony.
As all the flags were put away, so too were the streamers that represented every conflict the Army has taken part in from the Revolutionary War to the Global War on Terrorism.
Terry Noel, protocol office, said he was disappointed they were not able to share the fanfare of the ceremony. For the first time, there were Soldiers and civilians dressed in period uniforms to represent every battle.
"Next year, I also want to have a Desert Storm female and an Afghanistan female. Women fought in these wars. They need to be represented," said Noel.
Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened June 14, 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.
Although the Army was established in 1775, it did not have a single, standard flag to represent the entire organization until it was 181 years old.
The first official Army flag was unfurled June 14, 1956, in Philadelphia.
"In 1777, Betsy Ross sat down took a patchwork of red, white and blue, sewed it together and became the rallying point for probably the strongest nation ever in the history of the world," said Col. Tracy Banister, Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill chief of staff.
Celebrating Soldiers and their commitment to the seven Army Values, Chaplain (Col.) Matthew Pawlikowski, Fort Sill Garrison chaplain, thanked those who died in duty to the nation.
"For their blood shed in sacrificial service to our country and with the virtue and honor in which they lived their daily lives," said Pawlikowski in his invocation.
"Really when we celebrate the Army's birthday we're celebrating people. When you take that mosaic of folks and you stitch it together with commitment, pride, honor and integrity what you come up with is the Army," said Banister.
At 50 years of age, Banister was joined by the youngest Soldier on post, Pvt. Jonathan Baird, 17 years old, to cut the cake in symbolism of the future of the force.
Four short years after deciding he wanted to be a Soldier at the age of 13, Baird finished his first week of Basic Combat Training in A Battery, 1st Battalion, 31st Field Artillery.
He said he joined because of the impression his grandfather's time in the military in Vietnam made upon him. When asked what impressed him most about his grandfather's service he answered, "He survived."
After the cake cutting, the 77th Army Band was positioned behind the crowd to lead everyone in singing "Happy Birthday."
"Two hundred and forty years in the Army, think about this: we went from muskets to M4s. We went from three-pound cannons with Henry Knox dragging them with oxen to the Paladin, the M109A7, that we just unveiled three or four months ago in Elgin.
"We've seen the Army get really big and get really small, but it's all about change. We continue to change for what the country asks us to do. What doesn't change is the people. For 240 years we've had dedicated folks," said Banister.
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