The McCandless Family moved to what is now Florence in the late 1800's where the family patriarch operated a hardware store. His son Byron, who had been born September 5, 1881 at Endicott, Nebraska, left Florence to attend the Colorado School of Mines and then the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he graduated in 1905.

In his early Naval career he cruised around the world with the Great White Fleet, and later was flag lieutenant and aide to Rear Admiral Charles J. Badger, Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. During 1915-1917, he was aide to the Chief of Naval Operations William S. Benson and to the Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels.

During World War I, as Commanding Officer of the destroyer U.S.S. Caldwell, Commander McCandless was awarded the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor. His citation reads:

For distinguished service in the line of his profession as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Caldwell, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity.

Following World War I he was Executive Officer of battleship KANSAS, commanded Destroyer Division 30, and was aide and Operations Officer for Destroyer Squadrons of the Scouting Fleet. During this period his research into vexillogy, the study of flags, marked him the foremost authority on flags in the world, and he was proclaimed as such by National Geographic magazine after writing nearly the entirety of the October 1917 issue of that magazine.

Commodore McCandless commanded fleet oiler BRAZOS during 1927-1928, then attended the Naval War College before serving as Director of the Training Division, Bureau of Navigation. He headed the Branch Hydrographic Office at Boston, completed another advanced course at the Naval War College, then served as Chief of Staff for Destroyers, Battle Force, 1935-1937.

He was commanding the Destroyer Base at San Diego when transferred to the Retired List on 30 June 1940 but continued on active duty as Commandant of the Naval Repair Base throughout World War II. His achievement in this command was recognized by the award of the Legion of Merit for outstanding service that insured the success of an unprecedented program of far-reaching significance in many diverse fields. This included the repair of ships, training and housing of personnel, and the post-war berthing and preservation of ships. His further contribution to the war effort included experimentation with infra-red rays for use as recognition signals between darkened ships; construction of Fleet Schools for handling 2,700 men simultaneously and the development and installation of audio-visual aid devices for instructional purposes.

He provided facilities for such activities as the Armed Guard school which trained 45,000 men; the training of 31,000 men for repairing some 400 ships each month; and the addition of five piers and a cruiser graving dock. He also invented the "Jeheemy", a rescue apparatus used to salvage hundreds of small craft wrecked on invasion beachheads. His foresight, initiative and brilliant leadership resulted in extraordinary service that contributed materially to the successful prosecution of the war.

Six weeks after the end of World War II President Harry S Truman held a press conference during with he introduced both a re-design of the official Presidential Flag which had been designed at President Roosevelt's request by the world's foremost expert on flags, Commodore Byron McCandless of Florence, Colorado.

Press Conference by President Harry S Truman October 25, 1945

I have a new Presidential flag, Executive order for which will be issued. President Roosevelt had ordered the Navy Department to go to work on a new flag just before he died, and I thought maybe you might be interested in the history of the Presidential flag and the Presidential seal; and I have got a release for you in mimeographed form on that.

[To General Vaughan] Now raise that flag up, there. This flag here--in President Wilson's time there were two flags for the President, an Army flag for the President with a red star and a Navy flag for the President with a blue star.

President Wilson ordered a single flag for the President, and this was the result of that--[General Vaughan displays flag]--with the white eagle facing toward the arrows, which is the sinister side of the heraldic form, and no color.

This new flag--[to General Vaughan]--if you will raise that one up, now you will see--you can see the difference. It will all be explained in the release which you will get. This new flag faces the eagle toward the staff which is looking to the front all the time when you are on the march, and also has him looking at the olive branches for peace, instead of the arrows for war; and taking the 4 stars out of the corner and putting 48 stars around the Presidential seal. You will get a release that will tell you all about it, and the why and the wherefore.

The release contained the text of Executive Order 9646 "Coat of Arms, Seal, and Flag of the President of the United States" (October 25, 1945, 3 CFR, 1943-1948 Comp., p. 445), together with background material reading in part as follows:

The Executive order establishes for the first time a legal definition of the President's coat of arms and his seal. The design of the coat of arms and the seal has been changed slightly from the former design, and the Presidential flag has also been changed. The flag will consist of the coat of arms in full color, surrounded by 48 white stars on a blue field.

The former Presidential flag was adopted in 1916 by President Wilson. Prior to that time, the Army and the Navy had had separate flags for the Commander in Chief. President Wilson instructed his Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Aide to the Secretary of the Navy, Commander Byron McCandless, USN, to design a Presidential flag which would be suitable for use by both the Army and the Navy. On May 29, 1916, President Wilson signed an Executive order adopting the flag suggested by Assistant Secretary Roosevelt and Commander McCandless. The flag consisted of the Presidential coat of arms on a blue field with a white star in each of the corners. That flag was in use from 1916 until today.

In March of this year, President Roosevelt discussed with his Naval Aide, Vice Admiral Wilson Brown, the advisability of changing the President's flag. It seemed inappropriate to President Roosevelt for the flag of the Commander in Chief to have only four stars when there were five stars In the flags of Fleet Admirals and Generals of the Army, grades which had been created in December 1944.

It was natural that President Roosevelt should turn at this time to the officer who had worked with him in 1916, and who now holds the rank of Commodore, Byron McCandless.

For many years Commodore McCandless, who now commands the U.S. Naval Repair Base at San Diego, Calif., has studied the histories of the various flags of the United States. When Vice Admiral Brown wrote to him, at President Roosevelt's request, late In March for suggestions for a new design for the President's flag, Commodore McCandless prepared several designs based upon early American flags. His proposed designs arrived in Washington after the death of President Roosevelt and the President did not have the opportunity of seeing them until early in June.

The President and members of his staff examined them carefully and, preferring one design to the others, the President made several suggestions to Commodore McCandless concerning it. The President believed that all of the States in the Union should be represented on the Commander in Chief's flag, and he asked Commodore McCandless to submit a new design with a circle of 48 stars around the coat of arms.

Commodore McCandless sent a painting of the proposed flag, with the circle of 48 stars, to the White House in July and when the President returned from Berlin in August, he tentatively approved that design.

It was then sent to the War and Navy Departments for comment and suggestions. The Chief of the Heraldic Section of the Office of the Quartermaster General of the Army, Mr. Arthur E. DuBois, like Commodore McCandless, has studied the history of flags and heraldic emblems for many years. Mr. DuBois made several suggestions to the President. He pointed out that there was no known basis In law for the coat of arms and the seal which has been used by Presidents since 1880 and which was reproduced on the flag. The seal had originated during the administration of President Hayes, apparently as an erroneous rendering of the Great Seal of the United States.

It is a curious fact that the eagle on the Great Seal faces to its own right, whereas the eagle on the seal in use by Presidents since 1880 faces to its own left. According to heraldic custom, the eagle on a coat of arms, unless otherwise specified in the heraldic description, is always made to face to its own right. There is no explanation for the eagle facing to its own left In the case of the President's coat of arms. To conform to heraldic custom, and since there was no authority other than usage for the former Presidential coat of arms, the President had Mr. DuBois redesign the coat of arms in accordance with the latter's suggestions.

In the new coat of arms, seal and flag, the eagle not only faces to its right--the direction of honor--but also toward the olive branches of peace which it holds in its right talon. Formerly the eagle faced toward the arrows in its left talon-arrows, symbolic of

The President also decided that the eagle on his seal and his flag should appear in the full color of the natural bird as is customary in most flags, rather than in white appear as it had been on the former flag.

The 48 stars in the circle represent the States collectively; no single star represents any particular State.

Now I am ready for questions.

In addition to the re-designed Presidential Flag, also introduced at that press conference was a new addition to Presidential protocol, the official Seal of the President of the United States, also designed by Commodore Byron McCandless.

Seal of the President of the United States

The designs of the present Presidential Coat-of-arms, Flag and Seal were adopted by Executive Order of President Harry S Truman on October 25, 1945, from proposals requested of Commodore Byron McCandless by President Franklin D. Roosevelt who died on April 12, 1945 before the designs arrived in Washington, D.C. President Truman suggested the addition of the forty-eight stars. Commodore McCandless' painting with the stars in a circle around the eagle was submitted to the War and Navy Departments for approval. The final design was drawn under the supervision of Arthur E. DuBois, Chief Heraldic Consultant of the Office of the Quartermaster General of the Army.

Commodore Byron McCandless again transferred to the Retired List on 25 September 1946. His book So Proudly We Hail, Smithsonian Press, is still the most frequently cited reference on flags available. Commodore McCandless died 30 May 1967 at Mariposa, California.

Byron Mccandless