The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing, unless it is the responding to a salute from a ship of a foreign nation. This tradition comes from the ensign1908 summer Olympics in London, where countries were asked to dip their flag to King Edward VII: the American team flag bearer, Ralph Rose, refused in support of an Irish boycott over Great Britain's refusal to grant Irish independence, and teammate Martin Sharidin is often stated as famously proclaiming that "this flag dips to no earthly king." This tradition was codified as early as the 1911 U.S. Army drill regulations.
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