Retiring Old Glory

Plains Boy Scout troop shows proper flag etiquette

Flames quickly consumed the red, white and blue material, but this wasn't a burning of the flag as a demonstration; it was a way of honoring an emblem of the United States.

Plains Boy Scout Troop 46 "retired" 35 U.S. flags Friday evening in the back parking lot of VFW Post 3596, which hosts the ceremony each year on Dec. 7 to commemorate the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941.

"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan," said Doug Browning, reciting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Dec. 8 speech to Congress in his request for a declaration of war.

Browning, Post 3596's post commander, told the spectators at the ceremony that most people recognize FDR's first line, but few people these days have heard the entire speech. The Japanese sneak attack at Pearl Harbor forced the United States to enter the Second World War, which had been going on in Europe for nearly three years. The VFW selects Dec. 7 for the flag retirement ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Americans who perished in the attack, said Joe Eisenbrandt, one of the coordinators of the ceremony and a Vietnam War U.S. Navy veteran.

Three World War II vets — Bill Moore, Bob Williamson and Bob Packer, all Plains residents — attended the ceremony this year, but Eisenbrandt said the vets from that war get lower each year.

The 91-year-old Moore enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1936 and was stationed aboard the USS Vincennes in the Pacific Ocean during the Pearl Harbor attack. The Vincennes and three other warships were on their way to Pearl Harbor when the Japanese struck, said Moore, a fire control technician aboard the heavy cruiser. Moore said that his ship was immediately diverted to search for the Japanese fleet, but found nothing. Less than two years later, Moore had to abandon ship when the Vincennes was sank by the Japanese.

Williamson was 16 years old, living in Iowa when he heard the news of the news of the attack on the radio. He joined the Navy the following year, after getting permission from his parents and served on the USS Cogswell, a 376-foot destroyer, during the rest of the war.

Packer, 84, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a refueler in the Pacific Theater from 1943 to 1946.

Nearly 40 people, including several Girl Scouts from Troop 485, gathered around the small barrel of fire Friday as the Boy Scouts placed the flags into the flames one by one. People throughout the year dropped off the unserviceable flags, which ranged from slightly worn to severely tattered, to the VFW. The Boy Scouts dissected the 37-foot long Sanders County Fairgrounds flag the day before the ceremony. As Scoutmaster Noah Hathorne told the crowd the meaning of the flag, the Scouts placed the individual stripes, blue canton and stars, and grommets into the fire.

"It was a great ceremony. I had tears in my eyes all the way through it," said the 82-year-old Williamson, who had been the post's chaplain for eight years. "It's the best exclamation of freedom and liberty because of what our flag stands for."

"It's one of the most important ceremonies we can do in this country," said Al McGuigan of Thompson Falls. McGuigan, 76, served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

"It was a very solemn ceremony," said Rube Wrightsman, the Sanders County undersheriff. "It was much preferable to the ones I saw in college." Wrightsman was a student at Ohio State in May 1970 when four students were shot and killed by National Guardsmen at nearby Kent State during an anti-war demonstration. He said they had protests at his school, too, but they didn't receive the notoriety that Kent State and Berkeley University of California did in the 1960s and early 1970s.

The Scouts have conducted the retirement ceremony for the last seven years. On June 14, Flag Day, they perform the same ceremony at American Legion Post 129 in Paradise, although last year, the Legion members did it. The Scouts retired 72 flags at the VFW last year. This is the first year that Hathorne has run the ceremony, but he was on hand as assistant scoutmaster under Joe Sheppard in 2006.

Ten boys from ages 11 to 17 took part in the event, which lasted just over 30 minutes. The VFW buried the ashes over the weekend.

According to the U.S. Flag Code, a flag that is unserviceable should be "destroyed in a dignified way." Although the flag doesn't have to be placed in a fire, the code notes that burning is preferred.

"Tonight, we honor the symbol of our American freedom, the American flag, as we retire her from duty," said Hathorne, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who participated in the initial invasion of Operation Iraqi Freedom. "The American flag, otherwise known as Old Glory, the Stars and Stripes or the Star-Spangled Banner, represents the land, the people, the government, and the ideals of the citizens of the United States of America," said Hathorne, who also led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The scoutmaster said it's important for people, especially the youth, to show respect for the flag. Hathorne said the Scouts must know proper flag etiquette for advancement.

More than a dozen veterans of all five services from World War II to the Gulf War attended the ceremony, including Polly Gill, who served in the U.S. Army from 1984 to 1995 and was the only woman veteran at the event. The 36-year-old Browning, the only active duty man at the ceremony, and a U.S. Army Reserves staff sergeant with the 677th Engineering Company out of Missoula, said that showing respect for the flag shows respect for the country.

Veterans and Boys Scouts folded the unserviceable flags into the traditional triangle just before the ceremony. The VFW honored World War II veterans after the ceremony by pricing beer for five cents and mixed drinks for 25 cents, the price of drinks in 1941. VFW members also gave out chili, chips, soda, and hot chocolate to the public after the event.