News : Flags Retired by Local Legion Members

Legion members carried out the "Unserviceable Flag Ceremony" on Flag Day last week. The Legion has been honoring the worn flags across the nation with solemn retirement ceremonies since September of 1937. The ceremony has been an integral part of the American Legion ritual since that time. 
The local American Legion George G. Lucky Post 57 gathers to perform the ceremony, retiring dozens of worn flags with dignity and respect each year.
A brief prayer is offered followed by the playing of "To the Colors" by the bugler, 

Part of the ceremony reads as follows:

"A Flag may be a flimsy bit of printed gauze, or a beautiful banner of 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 ideals and practice of Justice, Freedom and Democracy.

"Let these faded Flags of our Country be retired and destroyed with respectful and honorable rites and their places be taken by bright new Flags of the same size and kind, and let no grave of our soldier or sailor dead be unhonored and unmarked. 

"Almighty God, Captain of all hosts and Commander over all, bless and consecrate this present hour.

"We thank Thee for our Country and its Flag, and for the liberty for which it stands. "To clean and purging flame we commit these Flags, worn out in worthy service. As they yield their substance to the fire, may Thy Holy Light spread over us and bring to our hearts renewed devotion to God and Country. Amen."

Pictured above are Fritz Noren, Mike Naylor, Otto Bush