Flag Retirement Ceremony

According to the BSA publication "Your Flag", "When our national flag is worn beyond repair, cut it into small pieces that will burn easily and completely on a modest, but blazing fire. This should be done in a simple manner with dignity and respect. Be sure the flag is reduced to ashes unrecognizable as a former flag."

  1. Lower the flag from the pole (or remove it from the staff) and carry it to the fire site.
  2. Place the stars (as the audience sees them) in the upper left corner.  This is an appropriate reading to start the ceremony:

        Remember as you look at the Flag, it is the symbol of our nation, it is red because of human sacrifice; the blue because of the true blue loyalty of its defenders; and white symbolizes liberty --our land of the free.  The stars are the symbols of the united efforts and hope in the hearts of the many people striving to keep America great. 

  1. Cut the field of blue from the stripes -- have someone hold onto this piece.
  2. Next, cut each stripe from the Whole and lay each piece, one at a time, across the flames.  These are some ideas for appropriate readings for each stripe:

 First Stripe   The thirteen stripes stand for the thirteen Original colonies which are: 

1.      Delaware (DE)

2.      Pennsylvania (PA)

3.      New Jersey (NJ)

4.      Georgia (GA)

5.      Connecticut (CT)

6.      Massachusetts (MA)

7.      Maryland (MD)

8.      South Carolina (SC)

9.      New Hampshire (NH)

10.  Virginia (VA)

11.  New York (NY)

12.  North Carolina (NC)

13.  Rhode Island (RI)

Second Stripe   the white stands for purity

Third Stripe   The red stands for courage

Fourth Stripe   Give me liberty or give me death

Fifth Stripe   One if by land, two if by sea

Sixth Stripe   We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution on the United States of America

Seventh Stripe   We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.  They are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.  Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Eighth Stripe   Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Ninth Stripe   Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or press.

 Tenth Stripe    Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

 Eleventh Stripe   One Nation under God.

 Twelfth Stripe   ask not what your country can do for you , but what you can do for your country.

 Thirteenth Stripe   One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

 

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