Flag retiring ceremony celebrates 'Old Glory'

To commemorate the 240th anniversary of the American flag, members of local veterans groups and Boy Scout troops gathered at Lake View Cemetery in Polson on June 14 to give their tired and tattered versions of Old Glory a proper send-off.

“There’s a procedure for disposing of flags,” Mike Dennison, a member of the Marine Corps League’s Hellroaring Detachment, said. “You don’t just throw them away.”

Part of an annual Flag Day tradition, patriotic residents from across the valley brought their worn out star spangled banners for retirement, following procedures outlined under official U.S. Flag Code.

After a solemn ceremony under the cemetery’s central podium, the flags were placed in a propane burner and reduced to ash.

Event organizer John Miller, also of the Marine Corps League’s Hellroaring Detachment, said the ceremony serves as a reminder of all the flag has stood for since its official adoption in 1777.

While the United States is the only country in the world with laws governing the treatment of its flag, Miller said many misconceptions exist, such as the belief that a flag must be retired if it touches the ground.

“That’s another one of those fallacies,” he said. “You can just wash them and fly them again.”

Sheri David, with the Polson Boy Scout Troop 1947, which participated in the ceremony, said members of the club experienced ignorance firsthand when they were collecting old flags along Main Street for disposal. David said a man in a truck drove by and told the boys to just throw the flags away.

“It’s important for them to learn respect at a young age,” David said.

Flag Day was officially declared as June 14 by an act of congress in 1946, and Miller said the ceremony in Polson dates back nearly as far.

American Legion Commander Russ Harbin estimated about 200 flags were collected for retirement from communities across the valley.

“We get people from all walks of life,” Harbin said.

Although a steel drum was used to burn the flags during this year’s ceremony, Harbin said the American Legion hopes to install a permanent incinerator at the ceremony. He said that once the flags are reduced to ashes, they are buried in an undisclosed location.

The process, Miller said, revolves around respect.

“The U.S. flag is my baby,” Miller said.

As the official American Legion retirement ceremony salute states; “A Flag may be a flimsy bit of printed gauze, or a beautiful banner of finest silk. Its intrinsic value may be trifling or great; but its real value is beyond price.”