Yeah, I live in northeast Ohio and we are a very and I mean VERY heavily militsry based area, we commemorated every soldier that stands, and even I haven't seen it flown. But I have seen the POW•MIA flag quite a few times.
Liechtenstein has no cities. Even the country's capital, Vaduz, is officially a "municipality", not a town and definitely not a city. Less than 6000 people live in Vaduz.
Imre Hundertwasser That doesn’t mean their not cities. In most countries all cities are called municipalities officially, so please don’t just post corrections like this
Imre Hundertwasser Yes, but a municipality is not a proper category for a dwelling, as it only implies the system of governance. I would prefer we use English terminology as this discussion is in English. According to the OED, a city is “a large town” whereas “large” is, in this case, defined as “of relatively great size or population.” If “relatively” means relatively to the country it is in, then at least Schaan, the largest settlement, would be considered the cities as it is the largest in the country. If, however, “relative” means compared to the world, then we must use the estimation that a town has 1,000-10,000 people, in which case none of Liechtenstein’s municipalities would be considered “cities”. As for “town,” that is “a built up area with a name, defined boundaries,(oxford comma) and a local government, that is larger than a village.” All settlements in Liechtenstein have names, defined boundaries, and a local government. As for “built up,” this can generally be applied to Mäls , Balzers, Triesen, Vaduz and Schaan, so these could generally be considered towns, and of these you could define Vaduz, Schaan and maybe Triesen as cities, but only if you consider they are large relatively to the others in Liechtenstein. The rest of the munciipalities are villages.
@@JJMcCullough it looks like mine, and two other peoples on UA-cams symbols as well. I believe one of them is called elixyl or something, he made a song called "Ping!" That blew up, and if you look in the comments you'll find the other guy and me talking about how similar they are
For the longest time, I didn't know Mexican state flags existed. Although to my disappointment, most of them are just the state seal on a white field. After falling into a slight depression for how awful they looked, I discovered that some people wanted to redesign them. I really like Ricardo Vazoli's collection of flags, I think they look cute and have great symbolism of the state. I fell in love with my state's flag (Sonora) even though it's so simple. This is just one of my stories with flags... just thought you should know.
A lot of the state flags in the us are the same way. I’m from massachusetts and the flag is exactly that. A lot of the other states change the color so some have navy blue instead but they’re boring
I used to work at a Mexican restaurant and when I showed the cantinero a man from Zacatecas some Colombian departamental flags he was impressed they were all different and original.
I declare myself to be a specimen of homo sapiens who lacks complexity. When my eyes behold a video with the word "flag," I immediately move to open said video
This week, I solved a flag mystery not for myself, but for a relative. While waiting in a government office, they noticed there were two flags, one being the American flag, and the other the Minnesota state flag. I was surprised they didn't know the Minnesota state flag, because of how long we have lived in the state. The flag itself is one of the dumb seal on a bedsheet designs.
I have something better for you: I have a flag which was proposed to replace the Minnesota state flag back in the mid-80s, but was not approved. It has a gold star in the upper-left and is half blue/half green with a wavy white line running through it.
I respect your work. You follow a weekly upload schedule, you're writing for WP and traveling around a lot. You seem organized. Have a like and also, I rung that bell and I don't ring that bell for anyone. Keep up the good work.
The M16 is still used and who cares about what variant the depiction on the flag is. It's just iconography for the type of burial that is. Oh no they didnt outline the selector switch oh my God.
I think the use of that variant is meant to make it look less modern and more timeless. Everyone associated the old A1’s with a storied historical military aesthetic.
As an Australian seeing the phrase “lest they be forgotten” is quite similar to what we use in australia and new zealand as the ANZAC phrase “lest we forget”
As a flag collector I’ve seen all of these, I am tempted in getting a Fanti flag, they’re not quite as expensive as he says they are, still not the cheapest flags you can get but the prices he gives is usually for well documented pieces and pieces properly framed
Walter Benjamin said that fascism is the union of politics and aesthetics - basically its main goal is to seem strong and impressive. i guess the idea was to coopt some of that strong, slightly imposing imagery for a different cause
Nice video! I hadn't realized that Fante Asafo flags were so expensive. (There are whole books written about them, btw.) I noticed you credited CRW Flags, which is good -- they provide an important service, being one of the primary servers for the Flags of the World (FOTW) database/community. It's really FOTW that deserves the most credit; every vexillophile should know about it.
My dad had a couple of things that look kind of like a Fanti flag, but I believe they were symbols of the various kings of Dahomey (now Benin) that he got when he was in the Peace Corps there in the 1970s
There was one day where I was in Washington DC looking at all the Embassies. I saw an Embassy with a flag that was not any country I was familiar with. It was a flag with a bunch of squares that formed pixelated colored lines. It sort of looked like a pixelated rainbow flag. I looked it up and apparently, it is the Wiphala flag. A flag that is used to represent some native peoples of the Andes that include countries like Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, parts of Argentine, Chile, and Colombia! Cool that it had it's own embassy in Washington DC!
I served in Iraq and lost friends. I've been on the leadership board of a veteran service organization and this video is the first time I've seen the LTBF flag.
@@smaimth Cmon, really? It's not even like America is the perfect nation, its far from it. (also don't use your face as your pfp that's just asking to be doxxed.)
An an American veteran, the blue and gold stars were taught to me in school, but it isn't as prevalent as it was back in the 20th century. For instance, my parents never had a blue star
Yes, have seen the LTBF flag here and there but - and here's an idea for a new channel for you - why do we have so many flags? There are so many swags for so many causes and who the hell can remember what they're for.
I'm from Des Moines and the flag has returned! I only recently started watching your channel and as I work through your backlog, I saw our flag and had to click. You're right though, it's flown by quite a few locals in the city, but I know a lot of suburban people have no idea about it.
I need a video where users send in modern flags invented to represent unspecified historical groups that didn’t use them (like the Romans, Byzantines, Han empire, etc.) and he has to guess as to whom it might be trying to represent. Sounds like a fun time
Hey J.J., can you make a video analyzing the modern and historical flags and vexillology of Ethiopia, Eritrea, their ethnic groups, and their provinces?
@@alexvesoskypiano mine isn't even an hourglass lol, it's something I came up with in 5th grade trying to make an optical Illusion but failing. I thought it looked cool so I kept it, and've used it ever since.
"Des Moines....ers (?)" made me chuckle. I ran into this same thing when i moved here 10+years ago. I learned quickly that the demonym for Des Moines is... Ready?.... Iowan. Yep, Iowans don't subdivide themselves down by where they are from within the state, they are all just Iowans. Love your videos by the way. Wish i was more up to date with them and knew you were here when you were.
6:30 if each star is a military person in the family, wtf was that family doing they're like an entire military unit all on their own, they even have a plus
A lot of small communities have small World War memorials with names of local casualties. You see them in obscure places in Hawaii and Nevada, I've seen.
One pretty obscure flag you will sometimes see in New-England is a red flag with a white box off to the side that has a pine tree in it which is the un-official New-England Flag dating back to the 17th century and interestingly you could in one way consider it the OG American flag as it was often flown by New-England rebels in the earliest days of the American revolution as a symbol of the regions cultural independance.
The service flag appears in WWII movies from time to time. If you look closely in Saving Private Ryan, when the Chaplain comes to Mrs. Ryan’s home you can see she has a service flag in her front window with four stars representing her four sons serving in the war It appears in other movies too so while it’s becoming less known by most Americans today I don’t think it’s entirely obscure from the public eye
I'm from the Chicago suburbs and I have never seen the LTBF flag in my 25 years of life until your video. I have however seen the POW MIA flag many many times. I grew up next door to an AMVETS. Which I do find it strange I've never seen the LTBF flag.
I haven't really seen the LTBF Flag gain huge momentum in the South where I live but it is cool. Retro De Moines flag would make the Jesuits who founded the city proud; the new one is a vexilogical abomination with no culture at all in it. And the Fanti quilt-flags look so cool! Maybe they can make it into a huge business. Don't know why high class Westerners are so fascinated with it. Beat's me. But it is cool to see Anglo-Celtic flag lore and Akan couture are able to mesh together to form something so cool! Long live Ghana and our troops overseas! 🇬🇧🇬🇭🧵🎖🎖
As a longtime collector of antiques, the Fante flags are very appealing with a very interesting history. Even as someone who doesn't typically collect flags, I could see building a collection of them (if I could afford it). The value of antique Fante flags actually makes a lot of sense to me given that, relatively speaking, they are rare (each is unique and handmade with quite a bit of effort, not some mass produced item) and I understand why there would be a lot of demand for them (far more than supply can meet). It's simple supply and demand.
Im in the military and when I saw the service flag for the first time on base after my 3rd deployment to the middle east I asked a passer by in uniform about it and he didn't know it either. Never until this video had I known what it was.
A bit late, but I’m another American who’s never seen that “Lest they be forgotten” flag before. I easily identified the blue and gold star flags though, a lot of people my age fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and the flags were common at houses around my neighborhood.
New plan. Find a Fanti guy from Ghana, befriend him, show him how much money those Asafo flags are worth, I buy the materials and ship it to him while he makes it therefore making the flags authentic Fanti flags (since a Fanti guy made them), and split the profits. Any Fanti people wanna negotiate?
I honestly never knew the service flag was to depict how many service members are currently in the military, and I was in the military! I honestly thought it was to recognize a General or Admiral, and I thought for this reason they were called 'Flag Officers'. I thought about this because I had seen a couple times a headquarters building flying a flag with stars on it, and I thought it was to make the troops around the building aware that a General was on deck. I learned something new! Thanks JJ
I've seen the LTBF flag pretty often, but also my family is Mostly military and I grew up in VFW halls. It's not really too common outside of some monuments and veteran's group halls (VFW/American Legion)
You asked if people were familiar with the Lest They Be Forgotten flag and I have to say that until your video I was not aware of it. I live in a city and state with a sizeable US military presence and have family and friends who have served or are serving. I am familiar with the Blue Star and Gold Star flags as I’ve seen them in my own family as well as around town. There are even organizations like Blue Star Mothers which some organizations I was involved with often worked with to send care packages for servicemembers in foreign combat areas and whom were instrumental in helping get letters to them as well (and in a few instances phone calls to family and friends). I am familiar with the POW-MIA flag as it flies in several spaces here, including the local Vietnam War Memorial. As a kid I had to ask about what the flag when I first noticed it and my family explained it to me. The blue star flag I knew just from growing up and seeing it at family members homes. It wasn’t until the 2001 Afghanistan War that I first saw the gold star flag and had to inquire about it from family. I knew of the Des Moines flag. I didn’t realize that was no longer the city’s flag. Then again I haven’t been to Iowa in well over a decade so I guess I wouldn’t have known that. Their new white city flag is about as awful as most municipal flags. My own city’s flag is just the image of a local statue in black on a white flag. Of course it only flies at city hall and even then not very often. I did find out my county apparently has a flag, too. It’s on display in the county courthouse. While it’s obvious that the designers went to great lengths to make it, I’m glad it isn’t flown because it also violates vexillogical rules as would be considered bad flag design. It’s treated as a piece of history rather than a symbol of the county. Much like the municipal flag which when flown, despite it being windy most of the time here, you cannot usually tell from the road or distance what the flag is. I only know because it just looks like a white flag flying and on the flag pole is usually at the bottom (US flag on top, Oklahoma state flag next, city flag on bottom). When I lived in Norman, Oklahoma they have a great city flag and people there like it a lot. You see it flown at a lot of places, including many businesses. When I first moved there I kept seeing it and finally inquired what the flag was and was told it was the city’s flag. I was surprised because so many city and town flags are usually awful. Either the city seal or something else (the statue in my city’s case) on either a plain white background or maybe with some bars on either side and usually it has the name of the city on it somewhere (below the statue it says “city of Enid”). The Norman flag doesn’t have words on it and visually is very nice. Maybe not as iconic as, say, the flag of Chicago or DC, but at least it doesn’t look all “bad corporate logo slapped on cloth” appearance. I didn’t know about the last flags. That’s actually really neat! I don’t know why I would want one, personally, but it’s neat to know about those flags and what they represent. Flagspert...that’s a really neat term. I certainly don’t consider myself a flagspert. I just like flags in general and enjoy learning about them and seeing all the ways people use flags. I’ve been fascinated with political party flags after seeing last year that most Indian political parties have flags. It made me curious if that was a thing elsewhere. The most I’ve seen in the US is about as bad as the city flags with the elephant or donkey centered on a white background. I’d imagine it’s about as indecipherable as my home city’s flag is since it’s basically same concept different center image.
Even South Korean city flags look better then the new Des Moines flag but I do like the corporate look of south koreas even if it’s bland atleast it’s unique and not just saying “des moines” ya know?
Puerto Rico probably has the oldest, unchanged flags in all of the US which I think it's quite cool actually, also lots of war fallen memorials in just about every city, usually WWII and beyond.
Here in Hawaii, Hawaiian flag quilts have been a thing in particular since the overthrow of the Monarchy in 1893 "Kuu Hae o Hawaii" old ones with connections get quite pricey, and new ones are made.to today.
I do enjoy these vexology videos. Its apparent that JJ puts a lot of thought and research in these videos. Also the old Des Moines flag is much more appealing and has more character than the more sterile current flag. A definite thumbs up here...if I owned a "thumbs up" flag I would find the nearest flag pole and raise it! 😁
I’m a Des Moines resident and can tell you that the city council recently voted to reinstate the classic flag as the official flag of Des Moines!
Runal A. Patel great news!!
"our long national nightmare is over"
I haven't seen the newer flag around at all
@@texasyojimbo Shouldn't that be "Civic nightmare."
I assume all the Hipster shops have now adopted the other one...
The original flag for Des Moines was.. weird, but at least it was kind of unique. The new flag is awful and utterly characterless.
Absolutely agreed!
And at the very least it was beautiful flag with a recognisable design.
Bad letterhead.
Wikipedia mentions that the 3 bridge flag is back again as the official flag as of 2019(?)
And not an actual flag. It's a graphic design, a logo.
I am American and I have never ever seen the “Lest They Be Forgotten” flag, whereas the POW-MIA is instantly recognizable and ubiquitous.
Yeah
Well I’ve never seen or heard of either of them as an American until right now
Nor have I as a Rochestarian, New Yorker.
Midwest thing probably... never seen either in the South though.
Yeah, I live in northeast Ohio and we are a very and I mean VERY heavily militsry based area, we commemorated every soldier that stands, and even I haven't seen it flown. But I have seen the POW•MIA flag quite a few times.
The new Des Moines flag looks like a company logo
Tbh I always thought the Colorado state flag looked like a company logo
so true
@@cherylpalew7439 yes
@@thesecretsuspects When I see the Colorado flag I always think of Commodore
And also as a corporate logo is very bad...
The flags of cities in Liechtenstein are all taller than they are wide, which I think makes them pretty weird.
Liechtenstein has no cities. Even the country's capital, Vaduz, is officially a "municipality", not a town and definitely not a city. Less than 6000 people live in Vaduz.
Imre Hundertwasser
Not the point but ok
Imre Hundertwasser That doesn’t mean their not cities. In most countries all cities are called municipalities officially, so please don’t just post corrections like this
@@the8thgemmer467 They're still not cities. If they were, they would be called "Stadt" in German, and they are not.
Imre Hundertwasser Yes, but a municipality is not a proper category for a dwelling, as it only implies the system of governance. I would prefer we use English terminology as this discussion is in English. According to the OED, a city is “a large town” whereas “large” is, in this case, defined as “of relatively great size or population.” If “relatively” means relatively to the country it is in, then at least Schaan, the largest settlement, would be considered the cities as it is the largest in the country. If, however, “relative” means compared to the world, then we must use the estimation that a town has 1,000-10,000 people, in which case none of Liechtenstein’s municipalities would be considered “cities”. As for “town,” that is “a built up area with a name, defined boundaries,(oxford comma) and a local government, that is larger than a village.” All settlements in Liechtenstein have names, defined boundaries, and a local government. As for “built up,” this can generally be applied to Mäls , Balzers, Triesen, Vaduz and Schaan, so these could generally be considered towns, and of these you could define Vaduz, Schaan and maybe Triesen as cities, but only if you consider they are large relatively to the others in Liechtenstein. The rest of the munciipalities are villages.
The symbol of the Extinction Rebellion coincidentally is also the logo of an Asian upscale department store called SOGO.
WHAT
Especially in Japan.
@@JJMcCullough it looks like mine, and two other peoples on UA-cams symbols as well. I believe one of them is called elixyl or something, he made a song called "Ping!" That blew up, and if you look in the comments you'll find the other guy and me talking about how similar they are
oh shit.
It also looks a lot like a "not so nice" group we had in Brazil during the 30's.
You saying middle west instead of mid west just threw me off
Jameer Jamison Same, it made me think of “Middle east”
@@janrebie -- Yeah I know. The Middle East and the "Middle West" could not possibly have less in common.
He also has some slightly off pronunciations for things like "Iowa".
Middle West is an acceptable reference for the Midwest even if less common.
Living in Idaho, I think of the "middle west" being Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. That whole area from Ohio to Minnesota is just "Central."
For the longest time, I didn't know Mexican state flags existed. Although to my disappointment, most of them are just the state seal on a white field. After falling into a slight depression for how awful they looked, I discovered that some people wanted to redesign them. I really like Ricardo Vazoli's collection of flags, I think they look cute and have great symbolism of the state. I fell in love with my state's flag (Sonora) even though it's so simple.
This is just one of my stories with flags... just thought you should know.
A lot of the state flags in the us are the same way. I’m from massachusetts and the flag is exactly that. A lot of the other states change the color so some have navy blue instead but they’re boring
I used to work at a Mexican restaurant and when I showed the cantinero a man from Zacatecas some Colombian departamental flags he was impressed they were all different and original.
But only Jalisco and Tlaxcala are the only two states with OFFICIAL flags
I am a man of simplicity. I see flag in the title, I click.
I'm a simplicio
I'm a simplicite
I declare myself to be a specimen of homo sapiens who lacks complexity. When my eyes behold a video with the word "flag," I immediately move to open said video
@@ThinWhiteAxe indeed.
Me too, I'm working on something...
This week, I solved a flag mystery not for myself, but for a relative. While waiting in a government office, they noticed there were two flags, one being the American flag, and the other the Minnesota state flag. I was surprised they didn't know the Minnesota state flag, because of how long we have lived in the state. The flag itself is one of the dumb seal on a bedsheet designs.
I have something better for you: I have a flag which was proposed to replace the Minnesota state flag back in the mid-80s, but was not approved.
It has a gold star in the upper-left and is half blue/half green with a wavy white line running through it.
I respect your work. You follow a weekly upload schedule, you're writing for WP and traveling around a lot. You seem organized. Have a like and also, I rung that bell and I don't ring that bell for anyone. Keep up the good work.
You are the greatest hero of them all.
J.J. McCullough was that Lana Del Rey NFR intentional
Woah!
I thought he stopped writing for WaPo.
Mirza Ahmed I believe he has stopped writing for National Review not Washington Post
This video is a very interesting concept and a way to learn more about unusual flags.
God, the new Des Moines flag is such a non-flag.
Lol yeah
It’s literally the SOB design
Ye lol
@@tomney4460 Worse, it's a LOB. Calling that thing a "seal" is an offense to properly designed seals.
thank god they changed it back
The gun in the "lest they be forgotten" flag looks more like a variant of the M16 which was already outdated at the beginning of the Iraq war.
The M16 is still used and who cares about what variant the depiction on the flag is. It's just iconography for the type of burial that is. Oh no they didnt outline the selector switch oh my God.
"outdated" yeah right, must be why it's fallen completely out of use with the largest military on earth
OH WAIT
I think the use of that variant is meant to make it look less modern and more timeless. Everyone associated the old A1’s with a storied historical military aesthetic.
@@fabiangonzalez-cortes8894 fair enough, I think it achieves that. Makes me think of Vietnam though, which I think isn't the idea.
@@vroomkaboom108 the Vietnam M16 is very different from the modern M-16.
“It’s “vexillophille” not “flagspert” “
*Says In Hermione voice*
"I don't know what a vexillophile is but I bet it's illegal in Alabama."
James Dallas No it has nothing to do with abortion
Vexillophille? I hardly know her!
J.J. McCullough Ha ha! By the way, a vexillophile is a person who studies flags, their history and meaning, or collects and displays flags
@@the8thgemmer467 akhchually, people who study flags are called vexillologists
As an Australian seeing the phrase “lest they be forgotten” is quite similar to what we use in australia and new zealand as the ANZAC phrase “lest we forget”
"Lest we forget" is more poetic.
Ye
As a flag collector I’ve seen all of these, I am tempted in getting a Fanti flag, they’re not quite as expensive as he says they are, still not the cheapest flags you can get but the prices he gives is usually for well documented pieces and pieces properly framed
I'm an American in a very red state and this is the first time I've ever seen or heard of the Lest They Be Forgotten flag.
Yeah same here. You just see POW-MIA flags here. We even have license plates for it.
@@SkiDaBird I actually saw a POW license plate a few weeks ago. It looked very interesting (I'm from WA btw)
I was driving around poughkeepsie ny yesterday and there is a POW Mia highway there.
Not gonna lie, the Extinction Rebellion flag looks pretty fascist.
RacknPinion when i saw it was guessing it was one of those identity europa flags
Walter Benjamin said that fascism is the union of politics and aesthetics - basically its main goal is to seem strong and impressive. i guess the idea was to coopt some of that strong, slightly imposing imagery for a different cause
Black and white simplistic flags are very reminiscent of radical groups.
It's suppose to envisage darkness and danger that could lead to....extinction. I think it serves the purpose very well.
I think it's a good design, it is indeed unsettling to look at
Nice video! I hadn't realized that Fante Asafo flags were so expensive. (There are whole books written about them, btw.) I noticed you credited CRW Flags, which is good -- they provide an important service, being one of the primary servers for the Flags of the World (FOTW) database/community. It's really FOTW that deserves the most credit; every vexillophile should know about it.
That De Moine new flag....No.Just No.
What an aberration.
It looks like a corporate logo, not a flag.
I think they changed it back
"Des Moines" ... 2 useless "s"'s, not just one!
Even South Korean city flags look better
My dad had a couple of things that look kind of like a Fanti flag, but I believe they were symbols of the various kings of Dahomey (now Benin) that he got when he was in the Peace Corps there in the 1970s
First time seeing the "Lest they be forgotten" most military memorials I have been to have had the POW-MIA flag
I used to know a lot about Ghana but never knew about that Fanti Asafo vexillological knowledge truly fascinating!
JJ:
When I was in Eye-Oh-WHA
Americans:
.........
You mean that is not how you pronounce it
as an american thats how i pronounce it. are you quibbling about him putting emphasis on wha? i didnt really notice
@@blew1t I think a lot of Americans kind of run the syllables together. I-uh-wuh. Even Ire-wah.
@@texasyojimbo i mean its the same thing just said faster
@@blew1t yes
There was one day where I was in Washington DC looking at all the Embassies. I saw an Embassy with a flag that was not any country I was familiar with. It was a flag with a bunch of squares that formed pixelated colored lines. It sort of looked like a pixelated rainbow flag. I looked it up and apparently, it is the Wiphala flag. A flag that is used to represent some native peoples of the Andes that include countries like Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, parts of Argentine, Chile, and Colombia! Cool that it had it's own embassy in Washington DC!
My gosh this is so fun and interesting to see and learn about, can't wait for part 3.
I served in Iraq and lost friends. I've been on the leadership board of a veteran service organization and this video is the first time I've seen the LTBF flag.
@@redroomvalentine. maybe your country shouldn't be garbage LMAO
@@smaimth Cmon, really? It's not even like America is the perfect nation, its far from it. (also don't use your face as your pfp that's just asking to be doxxed.)
@@Handlesareverydumb oh yeah, and he was talking about this guys friends that he lost...
@@Handlesareverydumb also I changed the pfp
@@redroomvalentine. that goes without saying.
Man, I love your weird, strange hair lmao, in every video it looks different.
I can't decide how I want to do it.
@@JJMcCullough just let it be, Its fantastic
@@JJMcCullough Nice to have a choice...
An an American veteran, the blue and gold stars were taught to me in school, but it isn't as prevalent as it was back in the 20th century. For instance, my parents never had a blue star
Wow that fanto asanfo thing was just so nice to learn about
You know it’s a good day when JJ uploads a flag video
Yes, have seen the LTBF flag here and there but - and here's an idea for a new channel for you - why do we have so many flags? There are so many swags for so many causes and who the hell can remember what they're for.
I'm from Des Moines and the flag has returned! I only recently started watching your channel and as I work through your backlog, I saw our flag and had to click. You're right though, it's flown by quite a few locals in the city, but I know a lot of suburban people have no idea about it.
I need a video where users send in modern flags invented to represent unspecified historical groups that didn’t use them (like the Romans, Byzantines, Han empire, etc.) and he has to guess as to whom it might be trying to represent. Sounds like a fun time
i've never seen that "lest they be forgotten" flag, which i found kind of strange.
i really loved the video, btw!
0:25 I like how that picture of the midwest left out 4 states
Ohio Indiana Illinois and Michigan
3:17 This honestly looks like something that represents an hourglass to me.
EDIT: *I KNEW IT WAS AN HOURGLASS HOLY CRAP!!!*
Thank-you for sharing about the LTBF; I was unaware of it.
It's really interesting, as a European, to learn about those military flags. It's a great tradition
Like the Blade Runner reference "computer enhance".
Hey J.J., can you make a video analyzing the modern and historical flags and vexillology of Ethiopia, Eritrea, their ethnic groups, and their provinces?
I’m going to try and incorporate “I mean we’re not the Des Moines City Council here” into regular conversation
Prepare for strange looks
I don't like how the extinction rebellion flag looks so similar to mine, even though I have never seen it untill now
Well your symbol is loop-sided so your hourglass Is spilled LoL
who are you
@@alexvesoskypiano mine isn't even an hourglass lol, it's something I came up with in 5th grade trying to make an optical Illusion but failing. I thought it looked cool so I kept it, and've used it ever since.
@@jordanwardan7588 Bluebanana2121, who else would I be?
@@Bluebanana2121_ I'm proud of you
"Des Moines....ers (?)" made me chuckle. I ran into this same thing when i moved here 10+years ago. I learned quickly that the demonym for Des Moines is...
Ready?....
Iowan. Yep, Iowans don't subdivide themselves down by where they are from within the state, they are all just Iowans.
Love your videos by the way. Wish i was more up to date with them and knew you were here when you were.
Imagine being west des Moines tho 🤢🤮
6:30 if each star is a military person in the family, wtf was that family doing they're like an entire military unit all on their own, they even have a plus
part of me would be interested in seeing JJ run for Prime Minister
A lot of small communities have small World War memorials with names of local casualties. You see them in obscure places in Hawaii and Nevada, I've seen.
The flag of the Venice republic in my opinion is the nicest flag
The flag of New Mexico is one of my favorites. North Korea also has a surprisingly good flag for a country with so little else going for it.
2008-2009 Des Moines flag sucks. I’m so glad they went back to their old flag
The extinction rebellion flag in black legit looks like a fascist flag
One pretty obscure flag you will sometimes see in New-England is a red flag with a white box off to the side that has a pine tree in it which is the un-official New-England Flag dating back to the 17th century and interestingly you could in one way consider it the OG American flag as it was often flown by New-England rebels in the earliest days of the American revolution as a symbol of the regions cultural independance.
I am personally from Rural Iowa and I have never seen any of these so I can see why
The service flag appears in WWII movies from time to time. If you look closely in Saving Private Ryan, when the Chaplain comes to Mrs. Ryan’s home you can see she has a service flag in her front window with four stars representing her four sons serving in the war
It appears in other movies too so while it’s becoming less known by most Americans today I don’t think it’s entirely obscure from the public eye
Man your videos knock it out of the park. For the amateur or seasoned vexillographer!
Your flag videos are for sure some of my favourites of all your videos! Great work
The Extinction Rebellion stole their hourglass logo from the old comic book Challengers of the Unknown.
I'm from the Chicago suburbs and I have never seen the LTBF flag in my 25 years of life until your video. I have however seen the POW MIA flag many many times. I grew up next door to an AMVETS. Which I do find it strange I've never seen the LTBF flag.
I haven't really seen the LTBF Flag gain huge momentum in the South where I live but it is cool. Retro De Moines flag would make the Jesuits who founded the city proud; the new one is a vexilogical abomination with no culture at all in it. And the Fanti quilt-flags look so cool! Maybe they can make it into a huge business. Don't know why high class Westerners are so fascinated with it. Beat's me. But it is cool to see Anglo-Celtic flag lore and Akan couture are able to mesh together to form something so cool! Long live Ghana and our troops overseas! 🇬🇧🇬🇭🧵🎖🎖
Very Educational JJ 👍🏻
I saw a lest they be forgotten flag when we lost 3 boys in Iraq I remember it’s in my local park
Love watching videos and seeing references to South Africa
Flag mysteries logo: Armenia
Me: ah yes, the most mysterious flag around
IYBJS 530 how’s it going in league 1
As a longtime collector of antiques, the Fante flags are very appealing with a very interesting history. Even as someone who doesn't typically collect flags, I could see building a collection of them (if I could afford it).
The value of antique Fante flags actually makes a lot of sense to me given that, relatively speaking, they are rare (each is unique and handmade with quite a bit of effort, not some mass produced item) and I understand why there would be a lot of demand for them (far more than supply can meet). It's simple supply and demand.
9:29 yeah Traverse City (my local VFW post in Traverse City Michigan)
I caught that, too! What a trip.
Happy 140K subs JJ
I’ve lived in America for my entire life, yet never seen the Lest They Be Forgotten flag.
that new des moines flag really is terrible. probably the worst idea for a flag ever.
I would love to know what the Fanti think of the Asafo craze in the top 1%.
That torch statue thing does look like something from a former soviet-bloc country. It does have that soviet realism art aesthetic about it.
I love that one flag in the background ;)
What's that one?
Im in the military and when I saw the service flag for the first time on base after my 3rd deployment to the middle east I asked a passer by in uniform about it and he didn't know it either. Never until this video had I known what it was.
Blue star overseas service Gold killed in action
If I were a betting man, I'd wager that the Fanti Asafo never see one thin dime of the proceeds from their flags.
The Fante Asafo flags are proof that The Empire lives on in our hearts
A bit late, but I’m another American who’s never seen that “Lest they be forgotten” flag before. I easily identified the blue and gold star flags though, a lot of people my age fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and the flags were common at houses around my neighborhood.
New plan.
Find a Fanti guy from Ghana, befriend him, show him how much money those Asafo flags are worth, I buy the materials and ship it to him while he makes it therefore making the flags authentic Fanti flags (since a Fanti guy made them), and split the profits. Any Fanti people wanna negotiate?
I'm not seeing what you bring to the arrangement. I suppose that's the essence of capitalism.
@@qwertyTRiG Yeah, I said I'd ship the materials but he'd already have them at his disposal. So, essence of capitalism
You always seem to come up with interesting offbeat topics. This one is one of the most entertaining. Very well done! 👍👍👍
Did you really not know the extension rebellion flag? Huh?
Very well with the idea of honoring soldiers. But the Brush Script MT font is a no from me.
Insert fun with flags joke here
J.J.: [calls the Extinction Rebellion flag a X in a circle]
Me: That's an hourglass.
28 views, 28 likes.
Nice
the extinction rebellion looks like Ben 10's watch
"Hello friends" don't take it too far J.J. jks big fan of your channel.
I honestly never knew the service flag was to depict how many service members are currently in the military, and I was in the military! I honestly thought it was to recognize a General or Admiral, and I thought for this reason they were called 'Flag Officers'. I thought about this because I had seen a couple times a headquarters building flying a flag with stars on it, and I thought it was to make the troops around the building aware that a General was on deck. I learned something new! Thanks JJ
I will edit this comment later.
I've seen the LTBF flag pretty often, but also my family is Mostly military and I grew up in VFW halls. It's not really too common outside of some monuments and veteran's group halls (VFW/American Legion)
That Fanti Asafo Union Jacks was kinda wholesome at first until you realized the colonial stuffs
I came for the Canadian culture, but stayed for the FLAGS!
I’ve never seen the Lest they be forgotten flag, but my town flies the POW MIA flag all over the place.
It can even be found in private businesses.
I think JJ has proved that Sheldon Cooper's fun with flags would have been very successful
You asked if people were familiar with the Lest They Be Forgotten flag and I have to say that until your video I was not aware of it. I live in a city and state with a sizeable US military presence and have family and friends who have served or are serving. I am familiar with the Blue Star and Gold Star flags as I’ve seen them in my own family as well as around town. There are even organizations like Blue Star Mothers which some organizations I was involved with often worked with to send care packages for servicemembers in foreign combat areas and whom were instrumental in helping get letters to them as well (and in a few instances phone calls to family and friends). I am familiar with the POW-MIA flag as it flies in several spaces here, including the local Vietnam War Memorial. As a kid I had to ask about what the flag when I first noticed it and my family explained it to me. The blue star flag I knew just from growing up and seeing it at family members homes. It wasn’t until the 2001 Afghanistan War that I first saw the gold star flag and had to inquire about it from family.
I knew of the Des Moines flag. I didn’t realize that was no longer the city’s flag. Then again I haven’t been to Iowa in well over a decade so I guess I wouldn’t have known that. Their new white city flag is about as awful as most municipal flags. My own city’s flag is just the image of a local statue in black on a white flag. Of course it only flies at city hall and even then not very often. I did find out my county apparently has a flag, too. It’s on display in the county courthouse. While it’s obvious that the designers went to great lengths to make it, I’m glad it isn’t flown because it also violates vexillogical rules as would be considered bad flag design. It’s treated as a piece of history rather than a symbol of the county. Much like the municipal flag which when flown, despite it being windy most of the time here, you cannot usually tell from the road or distance what the flag is. I only know because it just looks like a white flag flying and on the flag pole is usually at the bottom (US flag on top, Oklahoma state flag next, city flag on bottom). When I lived in Norman, Oklahoma they have a great city flag and people there like it a lot. You see it flown at a lot of places, including many businesses. When I first moved there I kept seeing it and finally inquired what the flag was and was told it was the city’s flag. I was surprised because so many city and town flags are usually awful. Either the city seal or something else (the statue in my city’s case) on either a plain white background or maybe with some bars on either side and usually it has the name of the city on it somewhere (below the statue it says “city of Enid”). The Norman flag doesn’t have words on it and visually is very nice. Maybe not as iconic as, say, the flag of Chicago or DC, but at least it doesn’t look all “bad corporate logo slapped on cloth” appearance.
I didn’t know about the last flags. That’s actually really neat! I don’t know why I would want one, personally, but it’s neat to know about those flags and what they represent.
Flagspert...that’s a really neat term. I certainly don’t consider myself a flagspert. I just like flags in general and enjoy learning about them and seeing all the ways people use flags. I’ve been fascinated with political party flags after seeing last year that most Indian political parties have flags. It made me curious if that was a thing elsewhere. The most I’ve seen in the US is about as bad as the city flags with the elephant or donkey centered on a white background. I’d imagine it’s about as indecipherable as my home city’s flag is since it’s basically same concept different center image.
Even South Korean city flags look better then the new Des Moines flag but I do like the corporate look of south koreas even if it’s bland atleast it’s unique and not just saying “des moines” ya know?
Puerto Rico probably has the oldest, unchanged flags in all of the US which I think it's quite cool actually, also lots of war fallen memorials in just about every city, usually WWII and beyond.
Here in Hawaii, Hawaiian flag quilts have been a thing in particular since the overthrow of the Monarchy in 1893 "Kuu Hae o Hawaii" old ones with connections get quite pricey, and new ones are made.to today.
0:25 That is a very incomplete map of the Midwest. It should include Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan.
I do enjoy these vexology videos. Its apparent that JJ puts a lot of thought and research in these videos. Also the old Des Moines flag is much more appealing and has more character than the more sterile current flag. A definite thumbs up here...if I owned a "thumbs up" flag I would find the nearest flag pole and raise it! 😁
The midwest also includes Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Along with Illinois forgot them.