American Legion Post 4 will host a flag retirement ceremony Wednesday on the Livingston Square.
American Legion Post 4 Adjutant Norman Osburn said worn-out American and state flags are burned as they are retired from service. Osburn said having a flag retirement ceremony is a way to dispose of flags respectfully for those who fought for our country.
“When I grew up, that’s the way you did it,” Osburn said. “Nowadays, the kids don’t get the history of it, and it’s the way we have always done it. It’s the correct way to retire a flag, you don’t just take it and throw it in the trash can.”
Osburn said people often think about the sacrifices that veterans have made to keep our country free during the flag retirement ceremony. Osburn said people will also have the opportunity to have loved ones who served remembered during the ceremony.
“We have a loudspeaker there and we ask any of the people out in the audience or standing on the side there if they would like to designate a flag for retirement in memory of perhaps a relative of theirs that was sin the military and it, I don’t know gives people a little bit of closure I guess.”
Osburn said American Legion Post 4 does a flag retirement ceremony twice a year. Osburn said Livingston does a great job of retiring flags.
“I moved down here from upstate New York twenty years ago, and it seems like down here people are a little more patriotic, I guess,” Osburn said. “The majority of people, I should say.”
The flag retirement ceremony will begin Wednesday at 6pm.
