POST FALLS - Flag Day is emotional for Ken Hoffman.

When the Air Force veteran from Post Falls thinks of all the sacrifices made for freedoms, he gets teary-eyed when the red, white and blue is raised.

"This is our day and our flag," Hoffman said during Tuesday's Flag Day ceremony at the Idaho Department of Labor. "We need to respect it and honor it. It's very important, especially for veterans. Times are not good for the country and we need more events like this."

It was a surreal moment as members of the U.S. Submarine Veterans Farragut Base slowly rose the 8-by-12 American flag along with 5-by-8 Idaho and POW flags along Interstate 90 under sunny skies as Labor consultant Andrea Rue sang the national anthem.

Members of the American Legion Riders then fired a gun salute.

"We're proud of the flag," said John Dunlap, commander of American Legion Post 143 in Post Falls. "It is our flag. This is the people's flag. It doesn't belong to anybody else. It's time we honor it."

Rathdrum Mayor Vic Holmes was among about 40 in attendance.

"It's important to be here," Holmes said. "It's a great country and this is the greatest part of it. I'm just lucky enough to be chosen to represent the city of Rathdrum."

Dennis Wheeler of the American Legion Riders said he wasn't involved with public patriotic ceremonies much until he joined the Legion. Now he's glad to be a part of them.

"It's all about the troops who fought for our freedom," said Wheeler, who served in the Coast Guard. "People take that for granted."

Coeur d'Alene's Marilyn Sullivan said it's important to set aside a time of remembrance.

"It's a time to think of all the people who died for the flag and our freedoms," she said. "It flies over our country instead of someone else's. That's something that we need to be mindful of."

Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the United States flag, which happened on June 14 by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.

While it's not an official federal holiday, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation in 1916 that established June 14 as Flag Day.