Bernard J. Cigrand, DDS: Father of Flag Day and Renaissance Man

Dr. Bernard J. Cigrand is acknowledged as the "Father of Flag Day." He relentlessly continued his activities for more than sixty years to have June 14 designated for the national observance of the birth of the American flag. That finally occurred in 1948, seventeen years after his death, when President Harry S. Truman signed a Congressional Act into law. However, the law designated a voluntary observance but did not create a legal national holiday. In addition to his fervent passion for Flag Day, Cigrand undertook a variety of other initiatives He was a practicing dentist, the dean of a dental school, an investigative journalist, an expert on heraldry and seals, a lecturer and an author of books. Despite all his achievements, Cigrand is more widely known in the European country from where his parents emigrated to the United States in 1852 - Luxembourg, than in the United States.