Club 55 taking old U.S. flags
At
their last meeting, Bonners Ferry American
Legion Post 55 members voted to add another
service to those offered at their recently
opened Club 55, accepting for proper disposal
the old U.S. flags of Boundary County residents."We've always offered the service," said post chaplain Mike Ashby, "but sometimes it was tough for folks to track down an active Legion member and make arrangements. Now you can drop them off any time during Club 55 business hours."
According to U.S. Code, disposing of flags that have been tattered from the effects of wind and weather until they are no longer fit to proudly wave should be a solemn affair, preferably by burning. For most, finding the proper solemnity due the U.S. colors can be a chore.
To the veterans of the American Legion, it is an honor and a duty they take very seriously, with a set of prescribed protocols they follow with each retired flag.
First, the flag is properly folded. If you've ever attended a military ceremony, you've likely seen proper honors accorded the United States flag as it is folded; it is a precision ceremony in itself, and an honor to those soldiers selected.
In an American Legion flag disposal ceremony, a fire sufficiently large for the number of U.S. flags being laid to rest is built, and after each flag is properly folded, it is laid, not thrown, on the fire.
Once the flags have been so laid, those in attendance are called to attention, the burning flags saluted. The Pledge of Allegiance is recited and a moment of silence observed as the flags turn to ash.
Once the flags are completely consumed, the fire is extinguished, then the ashes are buried.
Some tattered old U.S. flags find a different fate.
A military veteran, on request, is entitled to a new U.S. flag for burial, but not so if that veteran is to be cremated. In that case, again at the veteran's request, a tattered U.S. flag is used, incinerated along with the remains of the veteran who died.
Club 55, 6416 Kootenai Street, Bonners Ferry, is open from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to midnight Friday, and from 2 p.m. to midnight on Saturday.