Put to rest; photos from the annual flag disposal ceremony

ByMatthew Crane Reading Time: 3 minutes
Members of the Holland American Legion Post 343 provided the honor guard and 21-gun salute during the flag disposal ceremony held at the 4H Fairgrounds Friday evening.

Keith Ingram, President of the Dubois County Veterans Council and Comer of the Holland American Legion Post 143, led the flag disposal ceremony held at the Dubois County 4H Fairgrounds Friday evening.

The ceremony is held annually in conjunction with Flag Day, June 14; a day that celebrates the adoption of the U.S. Flag as the national standard which occurred on June 14, 1777.

During the ceremony, the following recitation is used in preparation to begin disposing of the flags.

“Comrades, 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 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 and lived for, and died for a free Nation of free men, 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 of the same size and kind, and let no grave of our soldier or sailor dead be unhonored and unmarked. Sergeant-at-Arms, assemble the Color Guard, escort the detail bearing the Flags and destroy these Flags by burning. The members shall stand at attention.”

Greg Smith of Holland, representing the American Legion Riders Post 147, and other volunteers placed each of the more than 1,500 flags set for disposal on the pyre. Braving the heat of the fire, the volunteers attempted to place each flag on the fire with the blue field of stars making the first contact with the blaze.
More than 1,500 flags worn and faded flags were disposed of Friday evening during the annual flag disposal ceremony held at the 4H Fairgrounds Friday evening.
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