Local scouts conduct flag retirement ceremony

A troop of Corbin Boy Scouts and Venture Crew took the opportunity over the Memorial Day weekend to retire approximately 50 American flags with the dignity and reverence.

In the parking lot behind the Corbin Elks lodge, the scouts of Troop 488 and the venturers held the ceremony Saturday for the tattered and worn flags they had collected.

Scout Master Bryan Frederick said the flags ranging in sizes from the small ones that may be placed on a veteran’s grave, to full-sized commonly flown outside schools and other government buildings, had been donated from individuals and groups throughout the community.

Though there is no official manner or ceremony for retiring a flag, Frederick said tradition has been to burn or bury a flag that has become tattered and worn.

The scouts had spent several days preparing the flags to be retired. The scouts had cut the blue field out of each flag and cut the red and white stripes away from the hoist and into strips.

“A flag ceases to be a flag when it is cut into pieces and we’re of the opinion that the Union should never be broken by cutting individual stars,” officials at itstactical.com said in describing the proper way to retire a flag.

Frederick said the scouts will retrieve the metal grommets used to hold the flags to the pole.

“We are looking at giving them to area veterans,” Frederick said.

The scouts and venture crew worked to find appropriate language for the ceremony that lasted approximately an hour, paying respect to the flag and the meaning of its parts and its places in history.

The scouts recalled the flag continuing to fly as the British fired upon Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Seeing the flag by the light of the shells inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner.”

The scouts also included one of the most famous photographs in history, when Joe Rosenthal captured the moment when five Marines and one U.S. Navy corpsman raised the U.S. Flag at the summit of Mt. Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

Three Marines depicted in the photograph, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley and Michael Strank, were killed in action over the next few days. The three surviving flag-raisers were Marines Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, and Navy hospital corpsman John Bradley.

The scouts and crew members took turns placing the pieces of the flags into the fire as members of the public and members of the Elks Lodge looked on.

“If you don’t get a lump in your throat by the time it is done, there is something physically wrong with you,” Frederick said.

Frederick said the scouts are always accepting flags. They may be brought to Corbin Presbyterian on Master Street.

Individuals with flags may also contact Frederick at 512-0742 to arrange to have the scouts pick up a flag.

The scouts are planning another retirement ceremony on Flag Day, June 14.

“We would like to do this every year on Memorial Day,” Frederick said of Saturday’s event, adding the Elks have invited the scouts to return.