Staff Writer
One by one, more than 60 American flags were dropped in a flaming barrel to be destroyed by fire as members of the Henry B. Pratt Jr. Post 15 of the American Legion and others watched.
Aroostook Republican photo/Debra Walsh
Jack Parisi, past commander of the American Legion Post 15 in Caribou, center, prepares to place a worn American flag into a burning barrel during a ceremony to destroy scores of dilapidated flags late last month. The post annually holds such a ceremony to properly dispose of American flags from area governmental agencies and schools. At left, if Sergeant of Arms Jack Dickson, and at right is Don Raymond, a post member.
It wasn’t a gesture of protest against any governmental activity, but a dignified method of disposing of flags too worn for display. Each year, the American Legion collects the tattered emblems from area schools, government agencies and residents for the summer burning ceremony.
“When the flag is in such condition, through wear or weather damage, that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, it shall be destroyed in a dignified manner befitting such a symbol,” said Post Commander Wayne Little, during the ceremony.
About 45 people stood in the rain just before sunset to witness the burning, held behind the Post home off Hershel Street. Besides Post members, a few members of the Girls Scouts and guests from the Veterans Administration Home in Caribou also attended the ceremony. As a precaution, the Caribou Fire Department was represented.
Little said that he believed the ceremony was important to make sure flags were retired according to protocol, and not thrown away or forgotten in someone’s closet. The ceremony also pays respect to fallen comrades and departed soldiers, airmen and sailors in the military service, who are fighting to protect the flag, according to Little.
Little explained that flags aren’t burned because they are soiled.
“They can be washed or dry-cleaned,” he said.
The flags that were burned on July 21 were collected from military agencies, such as the Air National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard, churches and schools.
According to Little, the flag’s blue field represents the night sky with stars “forming a few and glorious constellation.
“There is one star for each state in our union. The stripes symbolize beams of morning light and the 13 original colonies,” Little said.
“The stripes are alternating, seven red and six white; the red standing for courage and the blood of those brave men and women who fought and died to establish and preserve our republic,” Little continued. “The white represents the purity and high moral resolve in which our country was founded.”
The general public, churches and schools can bring worn flags to the American Legion in Caribou to be burned in a similar annual ceremony that is held each summer. For more information, call 492-6931.
