Scouts retire over 3,000 American flags Saturday

Local Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts retired more than 3,000 American flags that were past their prime Saturday, respectfully disposing of the nation’s symbol of freedom and sacrifice.
Boy Scout Troop 41 of Patterson, Troop 49 of Morgan City and Cub Scout Pack 438 of Morgan City hosted their annual American flag Retirement Ceremony Saturday at Lake End Parkway.
They collected over 3,000 flags from the area to retire, Pack 438 Cub Master Ray LaHoste said.
This is the seventh year local scouts have hosted the flag retirement.
“I want to make sure that these kids know that there is a proper way to do this, not the way they see it on TV,” LaHoste said.
LaHoste wants his scouts to understand that “you don’t just go out and light a flag on fire somewhere,” he said.
During the ceremony, LaHoste quoted a section of the United States code, saying, “The flag, when it is in such a condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem of display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”
Troop 49 Life Scout Sean Dennis, who was participating in his third flag retirement ceremony, said he really respects what the flag stands for, particularly because he’s in Scouts and ROTC, and his father is a veteran.
“It’s not just cloth, like the speech says. It’s so much more than that,” Dennis said. “It’s something that people have fought for and died for. And a lot of people look up to it.”
The flag “really deserves to be retired with respect, almost like a fallen soldier, to me,” Dennis said.
Morgan City High School student Ross Albritton played taps during the ceremony.
“Every time I hear taps ... it chokes you up a little bit, especially during these ceremonies,” Dennis said.
Dennis is honored “to be a part of something that not a lot of people can do and respect the flag and retire it properly, the way it should be,” he said.
After the ashes of the flags cooled off, Scouts planned to sift the ashes, separate the “brass grommets” and the rest of the ashes and bury the items in two different locations, LaHoste said.
Scouts and leaders retired the bigger flags by cutting and separating each of the stripes to retire them and then retired the stars separately. They cut the smaller flags into four pieces “vertically down the blue field, horizontally down the blue field” to retire them, LaHoste said.
“And then it’s no long-er a flag. It’s just a piece of cloth,” LaHoste said.
Troop 49 1st Class Scout Hunter Bella, who was also taking part in his third flag retirement, said, through his experience with the ceremonies, he’s “learned how to respect our country” and the freedom that Americans have.