Proper Flag Disposal and Flag Retirement

The U.S. Flag Code states, "The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning."   All  veterans' organizations as well as the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America have specific ceremonies to be followed.  Individuals and small non-veteran groups may respectfully retire American Flags, but should seek guidance from the ceremonies of the organizations listed above in order for the occasion to be appropriately somber and dignified.                                         (www.flagkeepers.org)

 

The following is the script of the American Legion Flag Retirement Ceremony. 
The American Flag and the American Legion Flag are prominently displayed.

Everyone participates in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Flag Retirement Detail is called to attention by the Post Commander .
 
Sergeant-at-Arms: "Commander, we wish to present a number of
unserviceable Flags of our Country for inspection and disposal."

Commander: "Sergeant-at-Arms advance with your detail and present the
Flags for disposal and inspection."  *Salute, detail marches to Vice Commander

Sergeant-at-Arms: "Vice-Commander, we present these unserviceable
Flags for your inspection."

Vice-Commander: "Is the present condition of these Flags the result of their
usual service as the Emblem of our Country?"

Sergeant-at-Arms: "These Flags have become faded and worn over the
graves of our departed comrades and dead soldiers and sailors of all our
Nation's wars.  Some of these Flags have been displayed in various
public places."

Vice Commander: "Present them to the Commander for final inspection
and dignified disposal."   *Salute, detail marches to Commander

Sergeant-at-Arms: "Commander, we have the honor to present for final
inspection and proper disposal these Flags of our Country."

Commander: "Have these Flags been inspected by the Vice-Commander?"

Sergeant-at-Arms: "They Have."

Commander: "Vice-Commander, what does your inspection show and what
do you recommend?"

Vice-Commander: "Commander, since these flags have become
unserviceable in a worthy cause and have become faded and worn in
tribute and love, I recommend that they be honorably retired from
service and fittingly destroyed."

Commander: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have presented here these
Flags of our Country which have been inspected and condemned as
unserviceable.  They have reached their present state in a proper service
of tribute, memory, and love."

"A Flag may be a flimsy bit of printed gauze or a beautiful banner of the
finest silk.  Its intrinsic value may be trifling or great; but its real value is
beyond price, for it is a precious symbol of all that we and our comrades
have worked for, lived for, and died for - a free nation of free men and
women, true to the faith of the past, devoted to the ideals and practice
of Justice, Freedom, and Democracy."

"Let these faded Flags of our Country be retired and destroyed with
respectful and honorable rites and their places be taken by bright new
Flags.  Let no grave of our dead soldiers or sailors  be
unhonored or unmarked."

"Sergeant-at-Arms, escort your detail bearing the Flags and destroy
these Flags by burning."       *detail marches to the fire   Patriotic Music if possible

Commander: "The Chaplain will offer a prayer."

Chaplin: "Almighty God, Captain of all hosts and Commander over all,
bless and consecrate this present hour.  We thank you for our Country
and its Flag, and for the liberty for which it stands.  To clean and purging
flame we commit these Flags, worn out in worthy service.  As they yield
their substance to the fire, may your Holy Light spread over us and bring
our hearts renewed devotion to God and Country.  Amen."

Commander: "Hand Salute.............................and Two."

 

Uncle Sam Wants You!.....Now give me 100 pushups!

Your wife is still making you do the dishes when you get home?

O.K.----Who was supposed to bring the matches?

I swear, it was this big, but it got away!

If you ever wondered why our American Legion Ladies Auxilliary sells red
paper poppies around Memorial Day and why we buy and wear them,
here's why.

The Canadian military doctor and poet, Lt. Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)
saw thousands of red poppies blooming and blowing in the wind in a
battlefield where soldiers had died and that had been torn up by artillery shells
during World War I.
 
Poppy seeds can lie dormant underground for many years, but now,
after so many soldiers lost their lives and bled to death on that battlefield,
the blooming red poppies signified their sacrifice.  He was inspired to
write the famous poem, below.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead.  Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae, 1872 - 1918

Inspired by McCrae's poem, an American from the state of Georgia, Moira Michael, was the first to wear a red poppy in remembrance of those who died in WWI and she sold poppies to help provide aid for wounded soldiers.  More accurately, she gave them away for any donation or none.  In response to McCrae's poem, she wrote:

"And now the Torch and Poppy Red; We wear in honor of our dead."

The Sippin-Winspur American Legion Post 176 retired more than 
500 flags on Flag Day, most of which were worn-out grave flags.  
Legion volunteers had collected the old ones from all the graveyards
in Monroe and replaced them with new flags just before Memorial Day.
Thanks to advertising supplied by DebraLee Hovey, quite a few people
dropped off their tattered flags for proper and respectful retirement on
June 13.  You might have noticed in some of the pictures that before the
fire was started in the 55 gallon drum, the flags had been placed in
cardboard boxes near the barrel.  Once the fire was started in the barrel,
it got so hot that one of the boxes of flags that had been placed too
close to the barrel inadvertenly caught fire.  Since it was so hot and we
had no tools to get it into the barrel, we let it burn itself out.  I guess
those flags couldn't wait to get started and they must have been the
flags that had been on the graves of the soldiers who had finally
learned to "Hurry up and Wait!"