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Fairfield Boy Scouts lead flag retirement ceremony on Flag Day
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD – Members of Boy Scout Troop 64 of Fairfield led a flag retirement ceremony at Maasdam Barns on Saturday, which appropriately landed on Flag Day, June 14.
The ceremony included the three members of the troop, Tristen Garretson, Alex Hudson and Cooper Kraft, plus Scout Master Joe Garretson, lowering American flags into two burning containers supplied by Dexter Laundry. That was after Joe Garretson recited the poem “I Am the Flag” by U.S. Marine veteran Howard Schnauber, and Hudson led the crowd in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
About 200 American flags were discarded during the ceremony by being burned in a respectful way. Tony Webb of Maasdam Barns Historic Preservation Committee, which hosted the event, thanked the Boy Scouts for leading the ceremony, and thanked Fairfield VFW and American Legion for providing the tattered flags for disposal.
Joe Garretson said the Scouts have participated in flag retirement ceremonies before but nothing of this size. He said it’s important to honor a flag before discarding it by speaking about its history and by doing so in view of a good, properly flown flag.
“Lots of people fought to maintain our freedoms. Some came home and some did not, and that’s why we need to do this properly,” he said. “Some people get handed a flag folded up when their child does not come back from war. The country is a living, breathing nation, and the flag represents that, and we should treat it accordingly.”
Webb said that Saturday’s ceremony went well and that Maasdam Barns will hold another flag retirement ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 8, just before Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
