Flag Day was first celebrated on June 14, 1917, to commemorate the anniversary of the Second Continental Congress adopting the first American flag in 1777. President Woodrow Wilson instituted the holiday to bolster patriotism during World War I.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016, was the 100th Flag Day, and Peterborough’s American Legion Cheney-Armstrong Post 5 honored Old Glory by properly retiring countless flags.
“They’re not burning the flags; they’re retiring them,” Dee Thomas said. “That’s important.”
The ceremony was held in Depot Square in Peterborough.
The group retired flags from Dublin, Dunbarton, Hancock and Peterborough. They had been collecting flags for over a year.
Many of the flags they were given had never been flown, and were donated to local towns and business.
“You know where they fly the flag in Dublin, right in the middle of the circle,” Thomas said. “It really whips there, so they can always use new flags.”
She said she and her husband Wayne, Commander at Post 5, keep new flags in their car to give away whenever there is a need.
According to the Post 5 release about the ceremony, the purpose “was to encourage proper respect for the Flag of the United States and to provide for disposal of unservicable flags in a dignified manner.”
Wayne Thomas was responsible for placing the flags on the fire. They were properly folded and handed to him by other local veterans.
The men who joined Thomas, who lives in Dublin, in volunteering to retire the flags were Bruce Beckley of Dunbarton, and Gary Babcock, Andy Benoit, David Clow, Bob Duhane, Henry Emory and Gordon Stone of Peterborough.
When the veterans passed a flag, they saluted.
“They’re not saluting each other,” Dee Thomas said. “They’re saluting the flag.”
Brandon Latham can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 228 or blatham@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @blathamMLT.