Community Corner
Flag Day Ceremony Brings Community, Scouts and Veterans Together
The American Legion hosted a retirement ceremony for well-worn American flags during a ceremony assisted by local Cub and Boy Scouts.
As the bugle played To the Colors on Tuesday evening, American Legion Post 673 legionnaires and local Cub and Boy Scouts retired about 300 flags to commemorate Flag Day.
The flags have been collected over the past year at American Legion on Coral Street in the Huntley Square. Legionaries retired the flags by burning them one by one as audience members saluted. The flags either had been damaged by the weather or had been damaged while being used in the military.
Post 673 officials started the ceremony by reciting the official words of the legion, repeated Tuesday at posts throughout the country. A small crowd of community members, parents, veterans, and Lions Club members all watched the ceremony from the square.
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Boy and Cub Scouts lined up, one by one, throwing the flags into the fire where they were burned in accordance with the U.S. Flag Code.
“I think it is an honor for (the Scouts) to see the ceremony and be able to participate,” said Urana Wold, whose Cub Scout son was participating in the retirement. “It shows them how to respect their flag and their country.”
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Not only was Old Glory present, but other flags burned included the POW/MIA, the U.S. Air Force, the Canadian flag and many others. The commander stated during the ceremony these words: “A flag may be a flimsy bit of printed gauze or a beautiful banner of the 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, lived for, and died for – a free nation of free men and women, true to the faith of the past, devoted to the ideals and practice of justice, freedom, and democracy.”
Tuesday’s event seemed to bring back memories for legionnaires like Richard S. Dahl who served as a staff sergeant in the Vietnam War, in the Air Force from 1954-’57 and in a secret Special Ops unit. He said the ceremony brought back memories – especially one in particular, at a hospital in Vietnam, where he saw a girl who was just 5 years old with a bullet in her jaw. Those memories stay with him today, as do events like the flag retirement with the legion and various reunions.
“As a solider (the ceremony) means a lot – we fought for this flag,” Dahl said. “I think it is great that the Scouts are out here, it teaches them citizenship.”
Dahl said the ceremony also reminded him of the buddies he lost in Vietnam.
“It honors them, it really does,” Dahl said.
Ronald Werner, a Sun City resident who has been helping with the ceremony for three years, said it is a great way to bring out the community. He hopes to continue the tradition in Huntley even after he becomes the sergeant-at-arms in August. As a Korean War Air Force veteran, it also means a lot to him.
“It’s a great honor to the flag to continue to have this ceremony right here in Huntley,” Dahl said.
