Flag Day 2011.
On Flag Day, the American Legion, in a solemn ceremony, retires flags that have become worn with use. There were five such barrels used to retire the hundreds of flags that people from the community dropped off during the year. The local Boy Scout Troop participated in the ceremony and the retirement of the flags.
It’s an American Thing, and I was proud to be part of it.
I take care of my own, usually on July 4th. We always end the day’s celebrations with a bonfire and when everyone has gone their way home, if I have a flag I’ve retired during the year, I’ll do it then. I’ve two this year, one of my own and one I found laying on the side of the road, where I think it ended up when it fell from an overpass. It looks like it’s been run over quiet a few times, broke my heart to find it like that, but it will have an honorable send off.
Comment by gregor — June 15, 2011 @ 11:39 am
Did the same thing yesterday, had my boys participate with Legion Post 146 in Riverside, NJ.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150283165405310.374496.695490309&l=365fd8b344
Comment by Ken Adams — June 15, 2011 @ 1:57 pm
The one and only time it is right and proper to burn the flag of the USA.
Comment by joated — June 16, 2011 @ 8:07 pm
I go to one every year, having missed this one being out of town. Our local DAR chapters have one at a cemetery. The first time we did it, we burned a couple hundred of them, having done all the cutting and so on. We nearly choked. We hadn’t thought through all the flame retardent and treatments on the fabrics! We started to wonder if we were all going to die of some funky cancer 20 years later because of the funk in the air…
Comment by Bou — June 16, 2011 @ 10:03 pm
My American Legion post has been doing the flag retirement ceremony for the past 21 years on Flag Day, and I have had the privilege of participating as the Chaplain for all of them. We have hundreds of flags to retire every year and quite a large attendance from the local community.
Comment by Ms. Pat — June 17, 2011 @ 9:12 pm