Flag retirement ceremonies

[Trevorum]

Our PLC decided to have a flag retirement ceremony on Memorial day, fast approaching. We've done this before with one or two flags but somehow this year we have accumulated more than a dozen flags to retire.

 

The SPL is planning this ceremony. I suggested to him that with this number of flags, our traditional method may take all night and perhaps we should have an "all hands on deck" ceremony with each scout actively participating. We want the ceremony to be solemn and respectful without turning into a (dis-)assembly line - and I'd like to give him some ideas to work with. Does anyone have any ceremonies that have worked for a large number of flags?

[MaScout]

When we retire a large number of flags (40+ at our last troop meeting), we retire the 1st & last with a big ceremony. We retire the rest with a very simple presentation, similar to posting the colors: all at attention, 2 lines of boys to form a column for Color Guard to march past, Color Guard to front carrying one flag, prepare to present, present (hold upright in front of fire), salute, prepare to retire, retire, stand at attention till unrecognizable, color guard back to starting position. Switch groups around so more have a chance to retire. Obviously, you'd want an experienced Scout with a "big" voice to call commands...and much more formally than I have written.

[CA_Scouter]

Coupla years back we had a couple of dozen flags, so we built two fires and worked both in unison.

 

[OneHour]

Once before about 18 mos. after 9/11, we had about 20+ flags to be retired, we took the largest one and saved it for the ceremonial cut. The rest of the flags were pre-cut into the respective stripes and blue fields.

 

At the ceremony, we had each of the 13 boys held the stack of stripes and the SPL held the fields of blue. As each of the stripe of the representative flag is cut, it is handed to the scout with those same stripes. He then retires all of the stripes together with his piece of the ceremony. The fields of blue are retired together by the SPL.

 

1Hour

[John-in-KC]

Dad (WWII era Old Army) taught me to cut the field from the stripes, then lay each on a separate fire. Destroying a Color while it is still intact is akin to protest, he believes!

 

Please, do remember to have a safety man with water for each fire. Nylon and rayon are hydrocarbons, and can burn HOT.

 

 

[Cheerful Eagle]

This past month, at wood badge, we had a flag retirement ceremony that might work for a big group. The first flag was retired at the end of the troop campfire in a typical full ceremony, then the other flags which had been previously disassembled by the program patrol were brought out, and a piece given to each scouter present. Veterns led the way, and in silence, and single file, we each passed by the fire and reverently placed our portion of the colors in the flames.

One of the staff retrieved the grommets from the ashes, and publically (during lunch)presented each vetern with a set on a leather thong tied with the friendship knot.

[LongHaul]

The US Flag Code says that old flags should be retired with respect preferably by burning. Ive never understood how cutting the flag into pieces so that it is no longer the Flag and then burning the pieces is first respectful and second compliant with the flag code. If your going to shred the flag why burn the pieces, why not just throw them in the garbage? If you still consider the pieces to be the Flag then I say leave it whole and retire it with the respect it deserves and honor befitting the men and women who have given their lives for that which it stands.

LongHaul

 

[John-in-KC]

LH,

 

All I can tell you is, after having talked with Dad (who is right now at his 64th anniversary of captivity/61st anniversary of liberation convention of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor), is he was taught this by truly "Old Army" NCOs ... his regimental Sergeant Major had been a buck sergeant for WWI.

 

The meat of the idea is that though the cloth is no longer the Flag, it was a Flag, and each piece still merits respect.

[red feather]

There are many methods used to retire the flag of our country. Some I agree with and some I do not. The seperation of the flag is not the method that the troop that I am with chooses. ( and I personally agree)

 

The troop that I am with retires flags complete. When we start one flag is raised to the top of the flag pole as the representative of all flags to be retired, the pledge of allegiance is stated by all. Once up the request for anyone that may have anything to say is put forward, starting with those with military service, followed by those who hold government office and followed by anyone else who may wish to say something.

 

Once all are done speaking, then the other flags are retired by scouts, scouters or anyone in the audience that wishes to participate by holding one corner of the flag to be retired then brought to the fire and then flipping each corner into the fire. As each flag to be retired is brought forward the audience is given the opportunity to make statements about that flag if it may have personal meaning. Once the flag has been completely consumed the next flag is retired. ( a senior scout or a scouter is assigned this task, however we have had members of the audience request this responsibility) When all flags have been retired the original flag that has been raised is lowered and retired.

 

It is the responsibility of scouts First Class and lower the next morning to sift the ashes of the fire to recover all grommets of the flags retired and verify that the flags have been retired completely. (if they had not been the SPL and SM are notified and the retirement is completed) We do at times mark certain grommets of flags if those retiring a flag wish them back for their family. All grommets not recovered by the family are then retired by the SM in a location known to none but him(her)self.

 

yis

red feather

 

 

[Crew21_Adv]

Greetings Everyone,

 

Please allow me to give my two cents...

 

My bottom line the ceremony should be respectful, meaningful and safe.

 

Humorously, I've attended U.S. Flag retirement ceremonies, where the organization stated they are the only organization authorized to retire flags by law. I've heard this more than once, and still never seen the law in writing.

 

Now the best U.S. Flag retirement ceremony I have attended, is annually held, on the Sunday before Flag Day (and the U.S. Army Birthday) June 14th, at the Barrancas National Cemetery on Pensacola Naval Air Station.

 

This ceremony is held by the "Veterans Roundtable" an adhoc committee of the various veterans groups. The BSA and GS/USA, is invited to participate, and the public is invited view to the initial ceremony.

 

The evening before, a large flat-bed trailer delivers (from a warehouse) all the unserviceable flags collected from businesses, schools, churches, private organizations, and homes, throughout the year. Literally hundreds of U.S. Flags and a few state flags.

 

Cub Scouts (Daisies and Brownies) with adult supervision, cut the grommets and fold the flag square.

 

Boy Scout or the Girl Scout Cadets, escorted by an older Veteran proceed along the long 2footx50foot trough, to the next available spot. As the proceed, the flag retirement is dedicated to a state or U.S. territory, while music is playing across the sound system.

 

With about 300 people assisting the ceremony in some capacity, it still takes about three hours.

 

Now saying that, there are many organizations that conduct U.S. Flag retirement ceremonies. None (that I know of) are authorized exclusively by law... But you may find a retirement ceremony script written in 1937 on the American Legion webpage. www.legion.org, under Americanism and Unserviceable Flag. Out of all of this script, there are two paragraphs. One is a statement by the about the U.S. Flag being a precious symbol which all have, worked for, lived for and died for; the other is a prayer for the U.S. Flag and liberty.

 

"For God and Country"

Scouting Forever and Venture On!

Crew21_Adv

 

[Trevorum]

Are grommets part of the flag or not? hmmm ... interesting...

 

I've never thought of grommets as actually part of the flag. They're more like just the hardware that helps display the flag. I really like CheerfulEagle's idea of distributing the grommets to those who participated in the ceremony.

[OldGreyEagle]

Ah, flag retirement ceremonies, sometimes I think discussions about these types of ceremonies gets more heated than any dicussion of the three "G"s.

 

My son's Eagle project invovled collecting American flags that were no longer fit for display and replacing American flags at Veterans gravesites.

 

From his research, I remember thinking as many ways are there are to retire a flag, as long as its done with dignity and respect, it can't be wrong. He ended up with 614 flags to retire, 400 or so were the smaller ones from the Cemetaries. Each of the larger flags had twine tied to each corner about 6 feet in length. The largest flags (one from a Perkins) were folded in the traditional manner. The smaller flags were bundled into groups of 50 the edges and the twine tied to the bunch.

 

A fire was built between 2 logs 8 feet long and 4 feet apart. In the center of the fire was placed a large "grill", heavy steel mesh on with pipes for legs.

 

The flags with twine on the 4 corners were brough over the flames and then gently lowered. They burst into flames before actually contacting the flames. The large flags, bigger than the fire, were placed on the grill and the bundles of flags were placed over the grill and held there until the twine burned through. During this time assembled scouts from various bands played patriotic music followed by poems, readings and more music. From start to finish the ceremony lasted 50 minutes.

[John-in-KC]

OGE,

 

Hey, you're a Mod here, if you think we get to contentious, you can always move this to Issues and Politics

 

At least we're talking about something that has a gut-check value (vice our forays into sod surfing )

 

At the end of the day, if the ceremony is done with quiet dignity and respect for that which is America, then these young men we're training have done well.

[SueM]

Our troop does the "official" flag retirement ceremony for the city every year on Flag Day (June 14th). We publicize it and have drop boxes at all the firestations throughout the city and some other sites where people can drop off their unserviceable flags. Then we have a formal ceremony to retire them. We do patriotic readings, especially ones pertaining to the flag recognize any veterans in the audience, etc. and then will generally retire only 1 at that time (depending on the circumstances). We generally will build a good sized fire and put a grate over it and then we have all the flags properly folded and will soak them in kerosene to promote a full destruction of the flag. The flag is place on the grate while the troop and attendees are at full attention and silent and they remain that way until the flag is fully burned. We may go ahead and ask the boys to solemnly continue, putting the flags one by one on the fire until we're done, or we will do the remaining flags at a future campout.

 

I'm sure that you know that your local service center does have printed materials available on the history of the flag, etc. that you can use in a ceremony.

 

sue m.

[roguedawg]

Hello All,

 

You all have good comments on respectfully retiring our nations colors. When I was a scout our troop would have a Flag "cremation" ceremony with the local American Legion. I made a crematory out of a 275 gallon oil tank. It would open up and we would drop in the folded Flags.

We did not like to use the word "burn" for Flag retirement. We felt that we were cremating a soldier, since blood has been lost to ensure our freedom. We probably cremated hundreds of Flags over the years.

I remember one instance where I was folding a Flag and there were not any grommets on it. The Legion Commander told me that is was a Flag that was covering a soldier's casket. It was not designed to be displayed on a pole. It really cut us scouts to the heart. We inspected the Flag, and found that it was in good condition. The Commander said that it was not worthy of retirement and gave it to me. I have used it since to teach Flag use. I also tell the story about it.

I was at work telling some people about our upcoming Flag cremation. One guy walked in on the conversation and thought that since I was in college, I was going to participate in a Flag burning protest. I gave him the time and the location of our "Protest". He showed up ready to pound my face in and then discovered what we were doing. He had served in the Marines. Afterwards I introduced him to the Legion Commanders and they had a good talk with him.

Everytime we would have a cremation, everyone had tears in their eyes; especially the veterans. I have never understood why people would burn our Flag as a protest.

 

I like the idea of handing out the grommets. This would definately prove that the Flags were cremated.

 

For all you troops out there. Get hooked up with a local American Legion. They really support scouting. Thank them for their military service.

 

RD