Old Glory to get sign of ‘utmost respect’

1 p.m. burn, weather permitting, will be part of a retirement ceremony for tattered and torn flags, an elaborate event that is church-like in feel, whether it’s at a VFW hall, city park or Boy Scout campsite.

The American Legion, a veterans organization, first outlined the ritual “for disposal of unserviceable flags” in 1937, two decades after President Woodrow Wilson established June 14 as Flag Day. Ceremonies are held throughout the year, but the busy season tends to come between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

In preparation, the Katy post collects worn flags at drop-off sites, such as Kroger and Lowe’s stores, across the suburb. The post has more than 400 flags, folded and stacked in barrels at “We hold onto to them. There isn’t anything else you can do. You can’t throw them in the trash.” a storage facility. It’s too many to burn at one ceremony, so the extras will remain there.

“We hold onto to them,” Jones said. “There isn’t anything else you can do. You can’t throw them in the trash.”

To retire flags, the American Legion holds a 10-minute ceremony, in which they are presented to a post commander to be “destroyed with respectful and honorable rites.”

“A flag may be a flimsy bit of printed gauze, or a beautiful banner of finest silk,” the commander says in scripted remarks. “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.”

The flags are unfolded, then draped one at a time inside a barrel, where lamp oil is burning. The bugle call “Taps,” is played at the end.

“It’s an impressive sight,” said Pete Koch, commander of American Legion The Woodlands Post 305, which will hold its ceremony on Thursday. “We don’t just throw them into the fire.”

The Boy Scouts also conduct flag retirements, either with veterans or on their own. Troop 89, which meets in The Woodlands, makes the ceremony part of camping trips.

Through the ritual, which is done during the nightly campfire program, “the scouts learn another aspect of showing respect for the flag,” scoutmaster Keith Landau said. “It is considered an honor to take an active part in such a ceremony.”

For Jones and others who know soldiers who were killed, the ceremony can be emotional.

“It’s not something you do just to do,” she said. “There’s a purpose.” matthew.tresaugue@chron.com twitter.com/mtresaugue