WASHINGTON, D.C. – Bryan Morgan of Birmingham came to Washington Monday, Dec. 12, on a special mission. Back in 1941, his father, Earl Morgan of Cullman, was a page in the United States House of Representatives. On Dec. 8, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to the House Chamber where he gave his Day of Infamy speech (the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor) and asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
Earl Morgan, knowing what a historic day this was, lowered the flag that was flying outside, above the chamber, and saved it. He brought it back to Alabama with him, where it has been ever since. His son, Bryan decided it needed to be in the historic collection of the House of Representatives. So, Congressman Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, arranged for it to be taken into the collection. In exchange, the United States House of Representatives gave Mr. Morgan the flag that flew over the House today, Dec. 8, 2022. (There was not a flag flying over the chamber on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack. It was a Sunday, so the House was not in session.)
Members of the Alabama House Delegation joined Aderholt and Mr. Morgan in unfurling the historic flag one more time outside the House Chamber. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell from Michigan also joined them, because her late husband, Congressman John Dingell, was a page with Earl Morgan back in 1941.
“I asked the congressmen today, and they were both Republicans and Democrats, to remember that spirt of unity that the country had, Dec. 8, 1941, to defeat an enemy, foreign or domestic,” said Bryan Morgan.
