1 year, 6 months ago
Is anything inside the TRUK (ball on top) of flagpoles?
When I was in the army I always heard stories about the ball containing three items and a fourth buried underneath the base of the flag pole itself. No evidence was ever produced to support the claims so, I am left not knowing the truth although, I do believe I know.
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M$1 Answer
If you look at this urban legend from different stories, there are sometimes even more three or four items in connection with the military flag pole.
From one source, I read that you would find stored inside the ball: a bullet, a grain of rice, penny, razor, rubber gloves, a pair of galoshes and a match. Gee... that would make for one big TRUK or 'finials' as they are called elsewhere. I guess you could also bury the big items at the base.
http://www.all-lies.com/legends/government/military/flagpoles.shtml
I think Snopes does a good job of giving some great information on the history of myth and shedding light on our love of our flag. http://www.snopes.com/military/flagball.asp
~quote~
"Perhaps the flagpole legend was not intended to be taken literally and was merely created as a prankish bit of misinformation used in the initiation of new recruits (much in the vein of the "snipe hunt," a ritual in which newcomers to a group are sent in quest of ridiculous, non-existent objects, their naivety in undertaking such tasks providing a source of great glee to the all-knowing veteran members). If so, that the legend is now widely-believed (or at least taken seriously enough to be questioned) might demonstrate that the legend has since taken on the secondary, unintended effect of reinforcing the symbolic importance of both the flag and a soldier's devotion to duty."
~end/quote~
From one source, I read that you would find stored inside the ball: a bullet, a grain of rice, penny, razor, rubber gloves, a pair of galoshes and a match. Gee... that would make for one big TRUK or 'finials' as they are called elsewhere. I guess you could also bury the big items at the base.
http://www.all-lies.com/legends/government/military/flagpoles.shtml
I think Snopes does a good job of giving some great information on the history of myth and shedding light on our love of our flag. http://www.snopes.com/military/flagball.asp
~quote~
"Perhaps the flagpole legend was not intended to be taken literally and was merely created as a prankish bit of misinformation used in the initiation of new recruits (much in the vein of the "snipe hunt," a ritual in which newcomers to a group are sent in quest of ridiculous, non-existent objects, their naivety in undertaking such tasks providing a source of great glee to the all-knowing veteran members). If so, that the legend is now widely-believed (or at least taken seriously enough to be questioned) might demonstrate that the legend has since taken on the secondary, unintended effect of reinforcing the symbolic importance of both the flag and a soldier's devotion to duty."
~end/quote~
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