Flag retirement ceremony Saturday

The always moving ceremony during which worn American flags are retired by local veterans in honor of Flag Day will be held one day before Flag Day this year – Saturday, June 13.

Flag Day in Lovell will be celebrated Saturday at noon at the downtown veterans memorial park, and the flag retirement ceremony will be conducted by members of Robert Boyd Stewart American Legion Post 11.

“Flag Day is officially June 14, but we chose to honor the Sabbath and have the program on Saturday,” Post 11 commander Jim Thomas said.

Thomas, who will lead the ceremony, said the program will begin with the Lovell High School choir singing the Star-Spangled Banner, and Thomas will follow with a brief history of the American flag. The LHS Choir will then perform additional music.

The main event will follow – members of Post 11 retiring worn American flags, with members of the public invited to participate with their own flags. Additional flags will be available for the public to assist in the ceremony if they don’t bring one, Thomas said.

The Legion program is designed to honor the flag but also educate citizens about the proper way to retire a flag. Flags are to be retired “with dignity and respect,” Thomas said, and in order for that to happen, they must be burned and the ashes buried.

Anyone wishing to retire a flag may present it for retirement at the ceremony, give it to a member of Post 11 or take it to the flag depository just inside the front door of the Lovell Police Station prior to the event. For more information, contact Thomas at 272-4246.