The flag of the United States has had several different nicknames over the years.
“Stars and Stripes” and “Old Glory” are two of the names the flag has had since the initial flag was adopted in 1777.
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It has been updated 26 times with more stars to represent the new states added to the country. The current flag with 50 stars has been around since 1960.
While there are guidelines on how to properly display the flag, there are also guidelines on to how to properly and respectfully dispose of a worn out flag.
Flag Retirement Ceremonies
The United States Department of Defense (DOD) outlines several respectful and proper ways to retire the U.S. flag.
According to the DOD, many state and county government offices along with Veterans of Foreign Wars posts have flag disposal boxes outside of their buildings. Police stations also collect them.
Once the disposal boxes are full, various organizations such as American Legions, VFWs and the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts collect the flags and hold flag retirement ceremonies.
In June 1923, the National Flag Conference met in Washington and established rules on how to properly fly the flag.
The American Legion passed a resolution about flag retirement ceremonies in 1937, and according to the DOD, they’ve been an important ritual ever since.
According to the resolution, “The approved method of disposing of unserviceable flags has long been that they be destroyed by burning.”
However, the way the flag is burned determines whether it is considered a respectful retirement or desecration. Therefore, the ceremonies have specific guidelines.
Ceremony specifics
The DOD describes the specifics of how an American Legion flag retirement ceremony goes.
During the ceremony, participants stand aligned in two parallel rows about 20 feet apart, facing each other. A small fire burns beyond the rows of members, opposite the Legion commander.
The flags that are no longer serviceable are presented to Legion commanders, who inspect them to make sure they should, in fact, be discarded. When it’s agreed upon that they’ve reached their current worn state due to proper service of tribute, memory and love, a color guard presents the colors and a chaplain offers prayers.
As the crowd salutes, the flag detail dips the retired flags into kerosene and puts them on a rack over the fire. A bugler sounds “To the Colors.”
Other disposal methods
There are ways people can respectfully retire a flag without delivering it for a ceremony at an American Legion post.
The DOD says you can do your own ceremony as long as it is done in a dignified manner.
They provide a video on how to respectfully carry out the ceremony.
The flag should be folded in the proper manner, demonstrated in the video link above.
When you start your fire, make sure it’s big enough to fully burn the flag before you put the folded flag on it. Next, salute the flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance or hold a moment of silence.
Once the flag has been fully consumed, make sure to safely extinguish the fire — and of course, make sure you’re conforming to local and state fire codes and ordinances before doing a burning ceremony.
Other veterans service organizations say people can also bury the folded flag in a dignified box, or recycle them — an option that’s common for flags made of synthetic or nylon material that can be hazardous if burned. Some groups, including the nonprofit Stars For Our Troops, carefully cut embroidered stars out of the flags and give them to veterans with a note that reminds them that their service won’t be forgotten.