Legion gives flags proper sendoff

It's fitting that Flag Day would be the time to give unserviceable flags a proper sendoff, according to American Legion Post 52 Commander Ken Matthiesen.

Fourteen veterans from five military branches took part in the annual flag retirement at the Clark Fork Valley Elks Lodge 2757 in Thompson Falls last Tuesday. Some of the flags had holes, others were faded, tattered, and ripped, yet the group of veterans all felt the ensigns of their country should be disposed of in a proper method.

"I think just throwing it out is disrespectful. It should be honored for what it is," said Joe Donaldson, who served in the Coast Guard for 23 years and now lives in Thompson Falls. This was the first flag retirement for the 62-year-old Donaldson, who retired as a chief warrant officer in 2003.

Ray Middleton of Plains echoed Donaldson's sentiment. This was only the second flag retirement for Middleton in Sanders County, but he attended about a dozen in California before moving to Plains in 2017. "It's an important procedure for the flag and the flag is a precious symbol of America," said the 76-year-old Middleton, who served in the Army from 1966 to 1969 and was an artillery officer in Vietnam. "It's important for people to be aware of the flag and other symbols as a reminder of how special America is," he said. Thompson Falls resident Ray Gilmore, 77, said it's an honor to be a part of the ceremony and it's an appropriate way to dispose of the flags.

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."

"A flag may be a flimsy bit of printed gauze or a beautiful banner of finest silk," said Matthiesen at the ceremony. "It's 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," added Matthiesen, who served in the Navy and the Army for 28 and a half years.

The ceremony began with Charlotte Beaudry, the acting sergeant-at-arms and a retired Army major, requesting the presentation of the unserviceable flags for inspection. The post vice commander, Morris "Mac" McFarland, an Army vet, said to present the flags for final inspection and disposal. Navy veteran Bill Beck, the post chaplain, led the group in prayer before the veterans presented arms and Army veteran Marv Tanner played "Taps" on his cellphone.

"Let these faded flags of our country be retired and destroyed with respectful and honorable rights and their places be taken by bright new flags of the same size and kind, and let no grave of our soldier, sailor, Marine or airman dead be unhonored and unmarked," said Matthiesen before giving the order to begin the burning process.

The participants ranged in age from the 58-year-old Matthew Schnell, who retired from the Army last year as a command sergeant major, to the 85-year-old Al Aschenbrenner, who served in the Air Force and Navy from 1955 to 1988 with breaks in service, as a petty officer first class. It was the second time for E.F. "Smokey" Schwaeble of Plains to participate in the ceremony. The 84-year-old Schwaeble has been referred to as a "Cold War Warrior," serving in the Army from 1955 to 1963 as a combat engineer field maintenance soldier.

It took the veterans only 12 minutes to retire the 101 flags, which included two Montana flags, two Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flags, one Oregon state flag, and one Marine Corps flag. The flags were doused in lighter fluid before being placed in one of five burning metal barrels. Almost 20 people attended this year's ceremony, including Steve Roque, a retired soldier who moved to Plains last week. The ceremony was his first, but he believes this is the only way to dispose of a flag that is no longer fit for duty. Roque, 57, spent 21 years in the Army and did four tours in combat - two in Iraq and two in Kosovo and is a lifetime VFW member. "People who throw the flag in the trash either aren't schooled enough about the respect of the flag or they just don't care," said Roque, who retired from the Army in 2010 and is a disabled vet. He said that to the soldiers returning to base they'd see the flag flying and it was a symbol of comfort and safety.

President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day in 1916, but it wasn't until 1949 that President Harry S. Truman officially made June 14 Flag Day every year. The Continental Congress had adopted a resolution to select the American flag on June 14, 1777, during the Revolutionary War, 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.

"It's always a beautiful ceremony; it's always a very touching time, said Beaudry, a 20-year Army veteran, who doesn't like to see when demonstrators burn the flag as a display of protest. "I don't think they understand the lives that have been sacrificed to protect the flag of our republic." Beaudry and her husband, Lee Ziegler, a Marine Corps veteran, have participated in the Legion's flag retirement ceremony on and off since joining the post 15 years ago. Post 52 doesn't conduct a ceremony every year. People had dropped off their unserviceable flags to the Elks Lodge, Harvest Foods, or to Legion members.

VFW Post 3596 in Plains holds its annual flag retirement ceremony each Dec. 7.