Veterans, Scouts give retired flags fitting farewell
By Bob Sofaly
The Island News
PORT ROYAL
In a ceremony just as somber and emotional as a funeral for a veteran, more than a dozen members of AMVETS Post 70 and about the same number of Boy and Girl Scouts gathered to say farewell to hundreds of American flags during a Flag Retirement Ceremony on Saturday.
Each flag was treated with the utmost respect before finally being laid to rest on a bed of hot coals while segments of the U.S. Constitution were read aloud.
“We had a Flag Retirement Ceremony and retired several hundred flags today of all different sizes, from storm flags to the mini-flags used at the National Cemetery,” said Jim Colwell, a National Executive Committee member for AMVETS and former U.S. Marine said,
Colwell said the ceremony takes place at least once a year at either AMVETS Post 70, VFW Post 8760 or as needed.
“The AMVETS in Port Royal is (a) repository. People can bring their unserviceable flags in and we hold them until we have enough for the ceremony,” Colwell said. “The biggest thing is it’s dignified. It warms my heart to see the youth here. This is a great civics lesson for them. God knows we need that.”
The Flag Retirement Ceremony was created in 1937 and ratified by an Act of Congress in 1942. It created the protocol for the disposal of any unserviceable, worn and tattered flags deemed as “no longer a fitting emblem for display.”g
One flag is used during the ceremony and represents all the flags to be retired. The rest of the flags are then unfolded and gently laid, one by one, into the fire.
As the flags were solemnly unfurled during Saturday’s ceremony, the respect they were shown by the participants was akin to the respect another veteran would receive.
A few of the veterans wiped tears from their eyes as the scouts held the flags. The retirement ceremony was a funeral of sorts for a national symbol, an old friend who had served its country and given way to the next generation.
Bob Sofaly has been photographing people and what they do in Beaufort since Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980. He can be reached at bobsofaly@gmail.com.
