Legion members say farewell to the flag

For military veterans, it’s like saying goodbye to an old comrade, said Scott Eldridge, commander of American Legion Post 129 of Paradise, where an annual flag retirement ceremony was conducted.

The 43-year-old Eldridge and three other American Legion members retired nearly a dozen tattered and faded American flags Saturday – Flag Day – in Paradise along Highway 200.

Eldridge has been the Legion’s post commander for two years, but this is his third flag retirement since retiring from the U.S. Navy in 2004 after 21 years as a master at arms, a law enforcement specialty in the Navy. His father, Louis Eldridge, also took part in the ceremony, along with Everett Miles Williams and Mike Peters.

One by one, the veterans took turns placing a flag in the metal barrel of flames, which took just over 10 minutes. The cotton and nylon flags this year were all U.S. flags, but Scott said they’ve retired POW/MIA (Prisoner of War/Missing in Action) flags, Montana state flags, and military service flags.

After the final flag went into the fire, the vets watched as the national ensign’s red, white and blue slowly turned to ashes. As customary, Peters will later bury the flag ashes.

The American Legion selects June 14 for the ceremony because it’s Flag Day. The Plains Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3596 conducts its flag ceremony each Dec. 7 in remembrance of the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941, which launched the United States into World War II.

The senior Eldridge, 70, the post’s junior vice commander, served in the Navy from 1955-1958 and moved to Plains with his wife Faith nearly seven years ago. Faith is a member of the post’s Ladies Auxiliary.

The 79-year-old Williams, a Paradise resident and the post’s sergeant-at-arms, spent two years in the U.S. Army during the Korean War as a heavy artillery man. The Oklahoma-born Williams’ hearing difficulties stems from his days in the artillery.

Peters spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, most of which was done in Vietnam in the late 1960s. Peters, a past post commander, believes Post 129 has been doing the flag retirement ceremony since the late 1990s. “It’s a sacred fire,” said the 61-year-old Peters, who lives in Paradise. “We’re retiring old veterans,” he added.

Scott Eldridge said it’s not a law that an American flag must be burned, but he said it’s the proper way to dispose of an unserviceable flag and the symbol of the United States. He said that burial is also an accepted practice, but that most military veteran organizations prefer burning.

“If they don’t want to do it themselves, they can bring them to the Legion,” said the junior Eldridge, who believes it to be disrespectful to the flag to merely toss it into the trash. It also bothers him when demonstrators burn the flag in protest. “If they don’t like this country, they should just leave it,” he said.

Scott said the flag ceremony brings back fond memories of his days in the Navy. “It also reminds me of the blood it was shed for,” he said. “It represents the nation and all the people who fought and died for that flag.”

“It’s an honor to be here and do this,” said Williams, who wishes community members would have showed up to see the ceremony. Last year, when they burned about 20 flags, a handful of spectators watched. “I think it’s an important thing for us to do.”