Comments & Curiosities:

“You’re a grand old flag, you’re a high-flying flag, and forever in peace may you wave. You’re the emblem of the land I love, the home of the free and the brave.” That was George M. Cohan, 1906.

Remember 1906? Neither do I. But there is one number we all remember — 1776 — and if you were anywhere near Castaways Park on Friday, you saw at least some of the 1,776 American flags the Exchange Club of Newport is putting up as a heartfelt nod to Memorial Day.

The effort is heartfelt because most of the Exchange Club’s members are not only fully mature but veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam — the people to whom Memorial Day means more than a three-day weekend. The Exchange Clubbers are calling their Castaways project the “Field of Honor,” and it was dedicated Friday with a color guard presentation, a flyover by police helicopters and remarks from Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry and Vietnam veteran R.B. Alexander.

Each flagpole has a yellow ribbon on it with a name and that person’s military service history, some of them veterans, some active duty personnel. The Field of Honor event is also a fundraiser for the Exchange Club.

For $45, anyone can sponsor one of the flags and some of those who did attached a picture of their son or daughter to their flag. By the end of the day Friday, almost 1,000 flags had been sponsored. How cool is that? Very cool, I think.

But all this talk about 1776 and flags got me to thinking, which happens occasionally and rarely ends well. Exactly how did the American flag become, well, the American flag? As any school kid knows, the first American flag was sewn with care and love by Betsy Ross and presented by her to George Washington, up close and personal.

But any school kid who gives that answer on the pop history quiz can expect a large, red “F” at the top right corner of the test when he gets it back. The Betsy Ross story is false, phony, not true, bogus, didn’t happen.

Was there really a Betsy Ross? Yes, there was, and even though she didn’t leave any letters behind, I’m pretty sure she never used the phrase, “It’s all good.”

Betsy Ross was a seamstress and upholsterer from Philadelphia, married three times, widowed three times. Her first husband, John Ross, was a militia man during the Revolutionary War. He was guarding a magazine packed with gunpowder near the Delaware River when a mishap made both the magazine and John Ross disappear.

Widowed, childless and all of 24 years old, Betsy threw herself into her work, growing her upholstery business and making tents and blankets for the Continental Army and, yes, the occasional flag, but certainly not the first one, nor did she ever meet George Washington, thank you, with flag or without.

Her second husband, Joseph Ashburn, was a merchant seaman whose ship was captured by a British frigate. The crew was charged with treason and after a trial at sea, which took about seven minutes, they were all taken to Old Mill Prison in Plymouth, England.

While Ashburn was there, his and Betsy’s 9-month-old daughter, Zilla, died and their second daughter, Eliza, was born. Ashburn was never aware of either event because he died in prison from an undisclosed illness, yes, probably being flogged and starved, which can make you very sick.

By this time you would think every guy in Philadelphia would know enough to stay away from Betsy Ross, but one of them, John Claypoole, was either out of town a lot or never read the papers, because he married Betsy Ross in 1783. She and Claypoole had five daughters together, which makes a total of seven girls with Ross’ earlier two, which was good planning on Betsy’s part since she had an upholstery business to run. Ever seen something sewn by an 11-year old boy? Nor has anyone else.

But Claypoole struggled with health issues throughout the marriage, making Betsy and her upholstery business the sole breadwinners until he died in 1827, by which time flag making was a substantial part of Betsy’s business. So how did the Betsy Ross/first American flag/George Washington thing get started? This is one history mystery that isn’t hard to solve.

It all started with Betsy Ross’ grandson, William J. Canby, who made a presentation to the Philadelphia Historical Society in 1870, just about the time everyone was getting pumped up about our centennial. Canby claimed that his grandmother worked her little colonial fingers to the bone creating the first American flag and that it was later presented to George Washington.

In 1876, speakers at centennial celebrations across the country repeated the story of the brave young Philadelphia woman who pieced together the first American flag and presented it to Gen. Washington to help rally his troops. If the myth wasn’t cast in concrete yet, it was for sure after a number of oil paintings — most famously “The Birth of Old Glory” by Edward Percy Moran — depicted the imaginary moment of Betsy Ross proudly presenting the first American flag to Washington.

I think that’s it. Betsy, George M., George W. and 1,776 flags in Castaways Park. It wasn’t easy being Betsy Ross, but being one of her husbands was worse.

By the way, you can sponsor one of the flags on the Field of Honor until 8 tonight so get over there and do your thing. It’s important. I gotta go.

PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs Sundays. He may be reached at ptrb4@aol.com.