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Honoring the Symbol of Freedom: How to respectfully retire worn American Flags

DETROIT – With Memorial Day weekend, Flag Day in June and Independence Day in July coming up, it’s the time of year when the American Flag really comes into focus.

Many people who fly the flag may not know there is considerable responsibility for properly presenting the flag. Ask any veteran and they can tell you how to treat a flag: Don’t fly it in bad weather, don’t let it hit the ground or water and you need to know how to properly and respectfully retire a worn flag.

According to Brian Chemelielewski, with American Legion Post 396, it’s all about reverence, but not just for a piece of cloth.

“It’s our nation’s symbol, it represents freedom,” Chemelielewski said. “A lot of men and women died, they fell for us to be free for us to do what we do in this country.”

That’s top of mind for him and his fellow veterans who went to work retiring the stars and stripes they’ve flown over their veterans memorial with honor since last August.

When you bring it down, you don’t just toss it.

“The flag should be folded in the flag manner,” Chemelielewski said. “We don’t fold it like a towel, a beach towel or a shower towel or anything like that.”

When you have your retirement ready banner and fold it, you are going to want to bring it to a bin -- like the ones found at Legion Halls, VFW posts or even some hardware stores. From there, they get taken to a flag retirement ceremony.

“So we will have an Honor Guard posted, they’ll do the rifle team a three round volley -- a 21 gun salute if you will,” Chemelielewski said. “They usually bring a flag that is a worn and tattered down and they take it to a burn pit.”

You hear that correctly. They burn the flags in a very solemn fashion.

“No gasoline, no kerosene,” Chemelielewski said. “We usually run like oak, get it burning hot and then place it on there. Each flag renders its own salute as well.”

---> We’re collecting worn-out American flags in Shelby Township on May 23: What to know


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