GREENFIELD — Hundreds of old, frayed and tattered American flags weighed heavily on the metal racks in a clearing at The “La Place” 40&8 recreational property south of Greenfield.
And they weighed heavily on the minds of onlookers as they watched flames consume them during a ritual to honorably retire the banners.
Veterans organizations gathered on Saturday for their annual flag disposal ceremony, a tradition in Hancock County throughout the past half-century. They destroyed banners unfit for display collected over the past year in accordance with the nation’s flag code, which establishes that ceremoniously burning unserviceable U.S. flags is the proper way to dispose of them.
The Hancock County 40&8 Voiture Locale 1415, VFW Post 2693, American Legion Post 119 and Greenfield Veterans Honor Guard were part of the service. Members of the organizations ceremoniously inspected a sample of the flags for disposal, and determined their condition was the result of their service as the emblem of the country before recommending they be honorably retired by fire.
A bugler played “Taps” as a bright, searing eruption of orange overtook the mass of red, white and blue.
Kathy Davis, whose husband, Mike, served in the Navy for 20 years and participated in the ceremony, said her thoughts were on military members’ sacrifices and the enduring nature of the flag as she watched the service.
“For me, it brings the debt that has happened to our military, and what they have given, and how the flag just keeps flying for now and for our future,” she said. “It’s very important to me.”
Bryan Hollenbaugh, whose father served in the U.S. military and who has relatives who currently do, was in the audience as well.
“It’s important to remember what’s happened to our flag, and the people who’ve died and sacrificed for the ultimate cause, that give us the freedoms and create the variables that make those freedoms possible,” he said. “We owe them much.”
Hollenbaugh was also among the volunteers who helped prepare the flags for disposal earlier in the day. They removed American flags of various sizes from garbage bags and laid them out on tables before loading them into the back of a pickup truck and hauling them over to the burn area, where they were draped over the racks and doused with an accelerant.
Butch Miller, an Army veteran and VFW member who estimated there were about 1,500 flags, said the larger ones are saved for last.
“Usually we’re lucky enough to get a garrison flag, which covers the entire length of the disposal area,” he said. “But if we don’t have those, what we’ll do is we’ll use these bigger ones to kind of lay over it and give it kind of a finished look. And when they all go up, they all go up.
“There’s no real science to it,” Miller added. “There’s just experience to it. We’ve learned from experience.”
One flag came out of a bag properly folded.
“You’d be surprised how many people send them here to be disposed of, but they’re properly folded and everything,” Miller said. “They show respect for them right up to the end.”
Matt Whitton, who’s involved with the VFW and 40&8, has been helping with the flag disposal ceremony for many years.
“I’ve done it my whole life with my parents, my friends and my comrades,” he said. “If we didn’t do it, who would? These would be in the dump; I hate to say it.”
Chuck Gill, a Navy veteran and commander of American Legion Post 119, said he was honored to be part of the ceremony and its preparation.
“As a Navy veteran, this is one of the more meaningful, respectful, solemn duties that we all carry forward, not only as Americans, but also as veterans,” he said. “It’s just my way of paying the respect that the symbol of our nation is due, and the unity of what it entails for all of us. This is an important thing, and as part of the Legion, one of our orders is to carry traditions forward, to let people know why it’s important to do these things.”
His respect for what the flag stands for also drives him.
“A lot of us that served, it means more to us than just a symbol,” Gill said. “There’s so much of ourselves that we see as we progress through, represented in the flag. And all of us, every last one of us has had a solider, a shipmate, somebody that’s passed defending, protecting our freedoms and rights. And it’s important to me that people understand that those rights are very fragile. If we don’t protect them at every stage, they can easily go away on us, and we don’t want that to happen.”
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“For me, it brings the debt that has happened to our military, and what they have given, and how the flag just keeps flying for now and for our future. “It’s very important to me.”
Kathy Davis
Attendee at flag disposal ceremony
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