Yellow ribbon
The text of the Army version approximates the following, with local variations: In a 1991 speech,[2] former Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints president Thomas S. Monson quoted a story relayed by prison warden Kenyon J. Scudder in a 1961 Reader's Digest article.
It was the central theme of the popular song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", Written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and recorded by Tony Orlando and Dawn (among many others), as the sign a released prisoner requested from his wife or lover to indicate that she would welcome him home.
From the Library of Congress: One factor that may have influenced Hamill's decision to do so was that, in May 1973, "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" sold 3 million records in three weeks.
When the dust settled, BMI calculated that radio stations had played it 3 million times, or seventeen continuous years of airplay.
Hamill dropped his suit after folklorists working for Levine and Brown turned up archival versions of the story that had been collected before "Going Home" had been written.
The group is a coalition protesting the reclamation of public space in Albert Park, Melbourne for the annual Australian Grand Prix.
[20] A yellow ribbon, for any symbolic purpose, was uncommon in Canada until the Great War when it was used by mothers and wives of soldiers who were fighting.
The yellow ribbon began to represent the close ties and strong relationship it had with France and Great Britain, forgiving the countries of all past wrongs and fighting for their brothers and sisters.
As the war progressed and an allied defeat seemed imminent, the ribbon represented the close ties the soldiers had back home and for their country, Canada.
[23] Cuba utilized the yellow ribbon to spread awareness of, and show ones support for freeing the Cuban Five imprisoned in the United States.
In Sweden, Swedish Veteran Federation[25] and Stiftelsen Jesper Lindbloms Minne[26] is promoting it as a troop-supporting symbol, for both military and non-military personnel on peacekeeping missions.
[32][33][34] The yellow ribbon is used in many ways, in particular on social media, for demonstrating solidarity with the pro-democracy protestors, and it became more widely used after Hong Kong police fired tear gas and used pepper spray (capsaicin) to dissipate the students and protesters who were occupying Harcourt Road in Admiralty on 28 September 2014, in the 2014 Hong Kong protests.
After the commencement of the Israel-Hamas War in October 2023, families of hostages taken into Gaza launched a project of handing out yellow ribbons on the streets of Israel.
On the fourth of July, in speech in Kuwait, the United States ambassador James Larauca pointed out that one of the most priceless reminders of the values of freedom is the yellow ribbon that was held by former U.S. President George W. Bush in reference to the suffering of the families of prisoners of Kuwait in Iraqi prisons.
In the Philippines, the yellow ribbon first gained prominence in the 1980s during the Martial Law era as a symbol of support for opposition leader Senator Benigno Aquino Jr.
Inspired by the song Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree (with the song's lyrics serving as an allegory of Aquino's homecoming after a long period of incarceration and subsequent exile due to his criticism of the Marcos regime), supporters tied yellow ribbons along the streets of Metro Manila to welcome him home from his self-exile in the United States.
His death led to a series of events that culminated in the 1986 People Power Revolution that overthrew President Ferdinand Marcos.
In September 2010, wearing a yellow band of electrical tape around the index finger signified support of the "We Are One Filipino Movement", a Filipino-American rally for Benigno Aquino III at the Plaza de César Chavez in San Jose, California.
Typically, a person shows his support for ex-convicts by pinning a yellow ribbon on his shirt during the annual campaign held in September.
In South Korea, the yellow ribbon is a symbol in memory of the victims and families of deceased of the 2014 MV Sewol disaster, in which 304 ferry passengers perished.
[45][46] The first well-known reference for the use of yellow cockades or ribbons in Spain is in 1704, when the viceroy of Catalonia Francisco Antonio Fernández de Velasco and Tovar, count of Melgar, banned its partisan use during the War of the Spanish Succession, to stating the side that used may be "creating disagreements within families".
[47] In Catalonia, the yellow ribbon started being used in late October 2017 as a symbol of solidarity with the leaders of the two biggest pro-independence organizations, ANC and Òmnium Cultural (Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart respectively), arrested by the Spanish judiciary during the Operation Anubis on accusations of rioting, sedition and rebellion.
[48][49] The yellow ribbon is also used to show support for former Catalan leaders in self-imposed exile, or flight from justice, depending on the point of view, including the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and four other regional Ministers, who had fled to Belgium and Scotland to avoid arrest and to seek broader European support for their cause that never arrived, due to the lack of constitutional consistency of their proposals ; as well as Marta Rovira (leader of ERC) and Anna Gabriel (leader of CUP) who fled to Switzerland despite both not being required to appear in court.
FC Barcelona ex-player and coach, and current Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, is one of the most notable figures who has been wearing it.
[5][8] In November 1979, a committee headed by Suzan E. Garrett of the Jaycees ladies service organization in Leitchfield, Kentucky organized a campaign to "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" around public trees as well as encouraging people to wear tied ribbons on lapels in support of the U.S. hostages being held in Iran.
It appeared again during the 2003 invasion of Iraq with similar meanings,[5] most prominently in the form of a yellow ribbon printed on magnetized material and displayed on the outside of automobiles.
YRRP is a Department of Defense-wide effort to promote the well-being of National Guard and Reserve members, their families and communities, by connecting them with resources throughout the deployment cycle.
[61] The yellow ribbon is also the scholastic symbol adopted by universities and institutions which provide student veteran support through the "Yellow Ribbon Program" and represents a matched financial contribution between that establishment and the U.S. Government to cover tuition costs that the normal Post Montgomery or Post 9/11 GI Bill would not normally cover.
