“In his will, Holtom asked that an upside-down peace symbol be carved on his gravestone because the semaphore letter ‘u’ was upside down from the letter ‘n,’ and he wanted it to ...

The upside-down American flag, originally an apolitical symbol used by sailors to signal that their ship was in trouble, has since been adopted by both the political left and right in protest.

The upside down flag traces its origins to the sea, where sailors flew them as a signal of distress to other maritime travelers. But on land, it has been used as a symbol of protest for decades.