Wearing the same vest since 1970 (kept together by a younger sister). Patch with the peace symbol I got when I was in country; the other was the first one I got when I came home and started riding my pan.

 

First off, I understand that my response is to an old posting but I just read the whole thread and thought that I might 'correct' what NewAge is saying.

I attended a PGR mission last summer at Arlington National Cemetery.
Rather than say anything I'll just post these pictures that I took while there.




I display American flags in my front yard 24/7 (with a light on them at night). We have an address plaque in the front yard with an American flag in the center of it (with a light on it at night). I wear a flag patch over my heart on my vest.

 

Yep!
On my helmet, my vest, and on my leather jacket.

 

I don't have any patches on any of jackets (and my helmet is simply solid black), but I fly the American flag and the "Freedom Isn't Free" flag on the back of my bike. The flag poles are mounted to the license plate. I also wear from time to time a t-shirt that has our flag on the front side. Does that count?

I love our flag. It's the most beautiful flag in the world.

 

I don't wear it as I'm not from the USA but I do wear the Canadian flag on my cut as I'm Canadian. I also wore the Dutch flag when I lived in the Netherlands as it was part of colours and I have a tattoo with the Dutch flag in it. I for may years I wore the Union Jack on my shoulder as I was in the British Military.

Every country has supported me enough to a point where I am proud to were their flag on my arm or my back. But at the end of the day I am Canadian and have always flown that flag.

 

I am Canadian. I have spent winters in the sunny south and love my US Friends. I respect your flag and when there I will display the US/Canadian friendship flag. As for my Canadian flags I do display them proudly.

 

A patch or tattoo with a representation of a flag on it isn't a flag. It's not subject to the strict etiquette of an actual flag.

Our flag represents freedom. That freedom is spelled out in the constitution. The right to free speech includes symbolic speech so the person that wears a flag upside down has the constitutional right to do that as offensive as it might be to others. (I'm assuming here that being as it would be sewn on it's not a distress signal) With that in mind, remember It's generally accepted among bikers that you don't put anything above a flag on your vest or jacket. Right or wrong, I've seen that cause more than one problem over the years.

A while back I had some self righteous "patriot" tell me the flag on my jacket was dirty and I should remove or replace it. It IS dirty. Just like everything else on my old leather. I explained the above to him and he was insistent that it WAS a flag. After asking how he kept the shiny new flag patch on his vest illuminated at night if it was in fact a flag, I thanked him for his opinion and moved on. I try to live and let live.

 

I usually don't notice if anyone has it on their helmet or vest, unless they had one like Peter Fonda had. But I've never had a flag on anything I wear. I do have a USMC patch on my vest and decal on my car.

 

Here's mine.

 

Flag on my vests over my heart, flag on the back of my helmets, and disabled veteran USMC plates on my bike.