GREENFIELD — The smell of kerosene and diesel fuel hung thick in the air as it drenched the thousands of American flags draped over old metal swing sets on one end of The “La Place” 40&8 recreational property Saturday evening.
After ceremoniously inspecting a small sample from those tattered and dirtied flags, the leaders of Greenfield’s American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts recommended to Steve Fox, chef de gare of 40&8 Voiture Locale 1415, that they be set ablaze.
“Let these faded flags of our country be retired and destroyed with respectful and honorable rights and their places be taken by bright, new flags of the same size and kind and let no grave of our soldiers and sailors dead be un-honored or unmarked,” Fox said to the about 60 who attended the flag retirement ceremony.
Moments later, the only sounds that could be heard were a bugler’s “Taps” and the crackling of flames as they consumed the mass of star-spangled banners.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThe ceremony marked the continuation of a decades-long local tradition to honorably dispose of American flags no longer fit for display. And that honor is well-deserved, according to the veterans who served the flag and spent part of Saturday preparing to retire old ones.
During the ceremony, Bob Workman, commander of the Greenfield Veterans Honor Guard and Hancock County’s veterans services officer, first presented the sample flags to Walter Baran, commander of VFW Post 2693. Workman was accompanied by Mason Good, Baran’s nephew. After exchanging salutes with Baran, Workman declared his intentions.
“Comrade VFW inspector, we would like to present these flags for your inspection,” Workman told Baran.
“Is the present condition of these flags the result of their usual service as the emblem of our country?” Baran asked.
“Yes sir,” Workman replied. “These flags have become faded and worn over the graves of departed comrade soldiers and sailors of our country.”
Workman and Mason then made their way over to Tom Miller, commander of American Legion Post 119, for his inspection. Next, they headed to Fox, who asked for Baran’s and Miller’s recommendations.
“(S)ince these flags have become un-serviceable in a worthy cause, I recommend that they be honorably retired from further service,” Baran said.
Miller agreed.
“(S)ince these flags have become faded and worn in a tribute of service and love, I also recommend that they be fittingly destroyed,” he said.
Fox voiced his agreement as well.
“They have reached their present state in proper service of tribute, memory and love,” he said. “A flag may be a flimsy piece 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 and lived for and died for — a free nation of free men true to the faith of the past, devoted to the ideas and practice of justice, freedom and democracy.”
Fox then instructed Workman to assemble the color guard and flag detail to escort the sample flags to the disposal area to be burned with all the rest.
Afterward, Fox, who has been involved in the ceremony in the past, said he uses a blend of kerosene and diesel fuel to achieve “a good, clean burn” for the flags.
Fox served in the Army and continues to serve in the Army Reserve. He said the American flag means a lot to him.
“I fought for that flag; I fought for our rights and our freedoms,” he said.
Volunteers spent Saturday morning removing flags from boxes and bags stored in a shed at The “La Place” 40&8 recreational property. The 40&8 is a veterans honor society whose name references the railroad boxcars used to transport 40 men or eight horses to the French front during World War I.
The volunteers spread out the flags on tables and draped piles of them over the old metal swing sets. They estimated there were more than 2,000 flags in all. That’s more than usual, as rain prevented the event from happening last year. The flags were discolored, tattered, dirty, frayed and had holes.
Butch Miller, a member of the local American Legion, 40&8 and VFW, said the American flag has a nostalgic effect on him.
“Every time I see the flag, I immediately think back to my childhood — the way I was raised, the values I was raised with, my family, Mom, Dad, the farm, that kind of stuff,” he said. “It means America, period. It means a way of life, it means all the things that go with it — good, bad and indifferent.”
Logan Nickolas, who will be a sophomore at Greenfield-Central High School, helped out on Saturday as well.
“I know it means a lot to them, because they served and all,” he said of the veterans he volunteered beside. “I just thought I’d come out and help the best I can.”
The American flag and what it represents is important to him too.
“People fought and lost their lives for it, so I think it should mean something to everybody,” he said.
Mike Fowler, first vice commander of American Legion Post 182 in New Palestine, said the American flag represents freedom, patriotism and the United States of America as he laid out star-spangled banners on one of the tables.
“The best country on Earth right now,” he continued. “I worry that if people destroy this country, where is anybody going to want to live?”
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Veterans groups including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion hold flag-disposal ceremonies around Flag Day, June 14.
Proper treatment of the flag — when it should be displayed and under what conditions — are outlined in the Flag Code, a set of rules formulated by patriotic groups starting in 1923. The code, parts of which were adopted by Congress in 1942, establishes that ceremoniously burning “unserviceable” flags is the proper way to dispose of them.
Source: American Legion
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