Andrews – The U.S. Marine Corps League, Cherokee Detachment 1011, is hoping everyone will come out to honor and celebrate the U.S. flag and local law enforcement during the “Salute to the American Flag” ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Marine Corps League building, 4955 Airport Road.
A covered lunch will be provided afterward by Farm Bureau Insurance. The event and food are free to the public.
National Flag Day is Monday, June 14. The national holiday was established as a day to honor “old glory,” as it commemorates the date in 1777 when the U.S. government approved the design for the first national flag.
John Evans, coordinator of the event, knows the importance of honoring and retiring flags the proper way. That’s why the Marine Corps League acquired a flag retirement box and placed it at Veterans Corner Park in downtown Murphy.
Evans said thousands of flags have been donated through the years since the box was placed in 2005.
“When I acquired the box with the idea for it to be a place where people could take worn, torn and old flags to not throw them in the trash, but to know they were properly dealt with,” he said.
“We get notes with the flags often, there is one I will never forget. We got it about 10 years ago from folks who visited Murphy and saw the box. They said every time they visit, they bring their old flags because they never know what to do about them, but they do know not to just throw them away.”
There are proper procedures to retiring a flag. The U.S. Flag Code, Title 4, Section 8K, states: “The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem of display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”
For the past few years, the Marine Corps League has held ceremonious retirement ceremonies for the flag. Evans said the detachment performs the ceremony in accordance to an act from the 36th Congress in 1855.
Evans said the ceremony takes about 30 minutes, honoring each stripe with its special meaning before burning the flag. Local law enforcement – including members from the N.C. Highway Patrol, Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and Murphy Police Department – will be conducting the ceremony as a way to honor them.
“The idea was how can we honor and celebrate the flag and law enforcement, so this was a way to do that,” Evans said. “What in our country has been persecuted more than our flag other than our law enforcement? It’s going to five people who want to salute the flag and thank our law enforcement the best opportunity to do that.”
After the flag is properly retired, the program will end with a new flag being raised.
“It’s to show the American flag still flies, proudly,” Evans said. “This is an event you will not want to miss.”