Veterans retire Old Glory

The brilliant colors of Old Glory's red, white and blue were already faded. Some were tattered and torn. They had done their job, and it was only fitting that they get a proper send off on Flag Day and by military veterans, men and women who defended those Stars and Stripes.

It took the 15 veterans of American Legion Post 52 about 15 minutes to put the 242 flags into the barrels of flames for a proper retirement at a ceremony at Elk Club 2757 in Thompson Falls on June 14 – Flag Day. The flags ranged in an array of sizes and conditions and included a Montana flag, two POW/MIA flags, two Marine Corps service flags, and a Confederate flag.

The event began with a short ceremony. Sergeant at Arms Don Burrell, holding a sample torn ensign, reported to Vice Commander Charlotte Beaudry and Post Commander Ken Matthiesen that the flags they were about to retire were unserviceable. Chaplain Bill Beck led a prayer, and "Taps" was played. Matthiesen gave the command to begin retiring the colors, and Burrell placed the first ensign into the fire.

"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 died for: a free nation of free men and women, true to the faith of the past, devoted to the ideals and practice of justice, freedom and democracy," said Matthiesen.

Just more than a dozen people attended the ceremony. Post 52 doesn't hold a flag retirement every year, but when it does, it conducts it on Flag Day, which is also the anniversary of the U.S. Army. It was on June 14, 1777, during the Revolutionary War, that the Continental Congress adopted a resolution to select the American flag and approved the design of the national ensign. "The flag of the United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen stars of white on a blue field," according to the resolution. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day, but it wasn't until President Harry S. Truman signed legislation in 1949 that officially made that day Flag Day every year.

The veterans lowered the flags into the fire one by one after being doused with lighter fluid. Trout Creek resident Beaudry, a past post commander, and her husband, Lee Ziegler, teamed up to burn the 120 small U.S. flags, which had been used as grave markers for veterans. Ziegler served in the Marine Corps from 1963 to 1971. Beaudry was in the Army for 20 years, retiring as a major in 1995.

"It's befitting for us to do this. It's a tradition and a respectful way of treating the flag," said Al Aschenbrenner, who served in the Navy from 1955 to 1959, followed by a stint in the Air Force as a sonar technician, and then as an electrician with the Navy Seabees Construction Battalion, retiring in 1988. "It's an inanimate object, but it represents the nation and hopefully for every American," added the Plains resident and at 83, the oldest of the veterans present at the ceremony.

There is no law that requires that an American flag be disposed of in a specific manner, but according to the U.S. Flag Code, it is recommended that a flag that is no longer usable "should be destroyed in a dignified and ceremonious fashion, preferably by burning." Beck has participated in the post's flag retirement four times and about a dozen times at the VFW Post 3596 ceremony in Plains, which is always done on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day, but he said that he gets a patriotic feeling each time. The 81-year-old Beck, also past post commander, spent 26 years in the Navy, serving on six ships, including two aircraft carriers and retiring as a senior chief.

Matthiesen served in the Navy from 1966 to 1971, but switched to the Army, where he stayed until retirement in 1995. "I cannot think of a more appropriate time to retire the symbol of our nation," he said. Even the ashes from the flags will be buried, rather than just tossed away.

The ceremony saw three first-time participants, including Eldon Schwaeble of Plains, 83, only four months younger than Aschenbrenner. Schwaeble was in the Army from 1955 to 1963. It was also a first for Ray Gilmore of Thompson Falls, a soldier from 1966 to 1968. The youngest of the troops was 57-year-old Matthew Schmell, who is still on active duty as a reservist in the Army waiting for his retirement to be processed from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Schmell went in the Army at age 17 under the delayed enlistment program and spent just over 40 years in the service, presently holding the rank of sergeant major.

"It was nice that they had a ceremony and didn't just throw the flags in the fire. It gives me a sense of pride in discarding the flag in the right manner," said Schmell, a Trout Creek resident who joined the post last month. Schmell is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Ron Chisenhall, a Thompson Falls resident and a Vietnam War veteran, was once again a participant of the ceremony. Chisenhall served in the Army from 1970-1973, as did Marv Tanner of Plains, serving in the Army in Vietnam in 1970 and 1971, and Don Burrell of Thompson Falls, who was a soldier from 1964 to 1966.

The post commander said it's a good feeling to know that the flags are properly laid to rest. "It's certainly emotional for me," said Matthiesen, who wishes more people in the community would attend a flag retirement. "I'm the one with tears in my eyes when 'Taps' is playing."

There is a collection box for people to drop off unserviceable flags at Harvest Foods in Thompson Falls.