Legion demonstrates flag retirement for MMS

TOM PINNEY/DAILY FORUM
Members of American Legion Post 100 in Maryville place a retired flag into a furnace to burn as Maryville High School senior Kendrick Calfee plays “To the Colors” on the trumpet. Detail Commander Amos Clampett decided to do the flag retirement ceremony in front of over 100 eighth graders at Maryville Middle School to help them understand the importance of respecting the flag.

As protests toward the American flag become more prevalent in modern society, the American Legion stepped up to show some local students what respecting the flag entailed.

Amos Clampett, Detail Commander at the American Legion Post 100 in Maryville, and a cadre of five other Legion members held a flag retirement ceremony at Maryville Middle School Friday morning for the entire eighth grade class.

The Legion organized the event with eighth grade social studies teacher Mr. James Thieman. During some introductory remarks, Clampett said there was a certain amount of disrespect for the flag happening throughout the country today.

“You see people on the news, burning flags in protest of something that’s going on,” Clampett said. “We’re here to show (the students) what respecting the flag looks like.”

The American flag can be disposed of properly in two ways, burning or burying. In either instance, a ceremony is necessary, wherein a ranking officer inspects the flags to make sure they have served their purpose and actually become worn or tattered in an honorable way, which could quite simply just mean being displayed prominently and properly outside of a business or home.

As such, the flag takes on a new reverence, almost as though the flag itself was a comrade in arms with the men and women who defended it. After presenting the flag for retirement and a thorough inspection, the commander approves the flags, and the ceremony continues.

For the ceremony Friday, two flags were brought in for retirement. One at a time, the flags were dipped in kerosene and placed in a small fire pit.

To add to the ceremony, the Legion enlisted the services of two Maryville High School trumpeters, senior Kendrick Calfee and junior Lane Tobin, to play two traditional bugle calls as each flag was burned. For the first flag, Calfee played through “To the Colors.” For the second, Tobin played “Taps.”

Present from the American Legion were members Bob Westfall, Bill Hall, Bob Robertson, Kevin Stark, and David Dredge.