The Alaska Flag Song
Eight stars of gold on a field of blue,
Alaska's flag, may it mean to you,
The blue of the sea, the evening sky.
The mountain lakes and the flowers nearby.
The gold of the early sourdough's dream,
The precious gold of the hills and streams,
The brilliant star in the northern sky,
The Bear, the Dipper, and shining high,
The Great North Star with a steady light,
O'er land and sea, a beacon, bright.
Alaska's Flag. to Alaskan's dear,
The simple flag of a Last Frontier.
 

 Alaska's Flag
"Alaska's Flag" was written as a poem by Marie Drake to help Alaskan children to remember and understand the symbolism of the official State flag's design.

Several years later Elinor Dusenbury put the poem to music. In 1955, The Alaska Territorial Legislature designated the words and music as the official Alaska song.

Benny Benson, a orphaned schoolboy, designed the Alaska flag in 1926. Benny attended the Jesse Lee Mission Home in Seward.  Benny's entry was selected from a field of 142 entries in a contest conducted in the public schools by the American Legion, Department of Alaska. Benny described his design as:

"The blue is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future State of Alaska, the most northerly of the union. The Dipper is for the Great Bear - symbolizing strength."

Kodiak has the honor of having Benny Benson buried in our own City Cemetery.  Each year on Memorial Day, the Natalia Shelikof
Chapter Daughters place a flag on his grave in his honor.
 

 



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