VINCENNES, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)— Saturday morning, Lincoln High School’s JROTC held its 5th annual Flag Retirement Ceremony.
The ceremony is a way to retire flags to are worn out, torn, or faded in a respectful and dignified way by burning them. JROTC instructor Brian Deckard said that this was started because there wasn’t a ceremony in this area that allowed these flags to be retired properly.
“A lot of these flags don’t get thrown away because they belong to veterans and they want to retire them the correct way but there wasn’t a ceremony to do so,” said Deckard. “These cadets behind me, Colonel Baker, and myself worked hard with the other folks in town to put something like this together.”
Deckard says that they receive flags from multiple veterans organization in the area along with the cadet who got them from a veteran family member. He hopes that powerful ceremonies like this one make these students understand the importance of the flag.
“I want that to permeate everywhere. I want kids to understand the meaning behind those stars and stripes,” said Deckard.
Deckard wanted to give thanks to the Indiana Military Museum, Sons of the American Revolution, Wreaths Across America, and Fred Schliker for making this a reality.
