Flag Day ceremony set for next Wednesday

Robert Boyd Stewart American Legion Post 11 will celebrate Flag Day with a special American Flag retirement ceremony next Wednesday, June 14, at the Lovell Veterans Park in downtown Lovell.

The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

Post chaplain Jim Thomas said the program is designed to help educate citizens about how to retire the flag in a proper manner while also presenting history about the American Flag.

Thomas said flags are to be retired “with dignity and respect,” and in order for flags to be retired in that manner, they must be burned and the ashes buried. He said the Legion post has developed a program to retire flags with dignity.

Legion members will first retire a flag ceremonially, carefully cutting, removing and burning each of the flag’s 13 stripes, with each stripe representing a different aspect of American history. After the ceremonial flag is retired, post members will retire and burn other flags collected by Legion members or given to Legionnaires prior to the event.

Anyone wishing to retire a flag may bring it to the ceremony or give it to a member of Post 11 prior to the ceremony. Contact commander Rich Fink at 307-272-1931 or Thomas at 307-272-4246.