This Veterans Day - perhaps more than any other - Americans rallied around their flag. Fluttering atop flagpoles, streaming from car antennas and draped outside window ledges, they bore silent testament to Americans who've died on foreign soil in years past and on American land in recent months. What many of those displaying this symbol don't know is that the flag they rally around likely isn't made in America. "A lot of the flags that are being sold right now are being made overseas," primarily in China and Taiwan, said David White, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based National Flag Foundation. "It's a big problem. Many of the flags that have been imported are not even labeled" as made in America or elsewhere, he said. In the days that followed the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Somerset County on Sept. 11, Americans flocked to flag stores and other retail outlets, stripping shelves bare. "It was so busy when this thing first hit, the police had to direct traffic in front of our place," said Fred Hachmeister, who owns the Flag Factory in Castle Shannon, the biggest flag retailer in southwestern Pennsylvania and the second biggest in the state. "Normally, we have 12,000 flags in stock," he said. "Right now, we probably don't have six." However, those six are guaranteed to be made in the United States, Hachmeister said. He belongs to a group, the National Independent Flag Dealers Organization, which has a code of ethics that bars members from dealing in foreign-made flags. The problem is that there are only a half-dozen major flag manufacturers in the United States, so waiting lists for retailers - hence for customers - are long. The lists are getting longer. Americans on average buy 3 million to 5 million imported flags, White said. As of the end of August, Americans already had purchased 3 million imported flags. "Since then, who knows• It could be up to 8 or 9 million by the end of the year. Ten million, perhaps," White said. Domestic manufacturers are scrambling to fill orders. "Those six domestic manufacturers are working around the clock. At least five of the six have three shifts working," said Hachmeister, who ran out of large flags about Sept. 15. "Since then we've just been playing catch up." Hachmeister hasn't sold any more flags this year than last. That's because he hasn't been able to fill more than a fraction of his orders. "It's been incredible, unprecedented really," said Randy Beard, vice president of corporate sales at New Jersey-based Annin & Co., the largest flagmaker in the United States. "The Gulf War was big, but this seems to be a lot bigger, as far as feelings of nationalism and patriotism." Other companies, like Milford, Ohio-based New Creative Enterprises, have turned to manufacturing plants overseas, where they can cut costs and keep production levels high. "I do know that some people get a little upset at the flags that say, 'Made in China,'" said Diana Bosse, order processing and customer service manager. "But it's a business, and unfortunately, our U.S. vendors aren't able to meet the demand and to meet the price. It's just a fact that labor in the U.S. is a lot more expensive than overseas." New Creative works with manufacturers in China, Taiwan, Mexico and the United States. One of its major customers is Wal-Mart, which won't buy foreign-made flags, so New Creative's American plants ship exclusively to the retail giant. "We've probably sold over a million flags since September 11," Bosse said. Beard said production also is way up at Annin & Co., but the flagmaker is only starting to work down its waiting list. "We used to make 20,000 (flags) a week" at the company's five U.S. plants, including one in Oaks, near Philadelphia. "I think we're closing in on 100,000 now. We're making a lot of flags and shipping them out, but we're looking at still probably 20 weeks before we catch up." At Egard Flag and Banner in Wheeling, W.Va., owner Drage Flick is asking customers to hold out for American-made flags rather than getting the cheaper and more readily available imports. "I had a lot of people who waited a month to get their flags" after Sept. 11, said Flick, whose clients range from private customers to groups like the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He's also got advice for those looking to avoid foreign-made flags: "If it's a $9 flag, then you know it's got to be an import." Other giveaways are thinness or transparency, or if there's no stitching or embroidering, said Drage, adding that 3-by-5 American-made flags usually go for about $35. "You can really tell the difference," he said. "It kind of goes back to the old adage, 'You get what you pay for.'"

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