By Ed Moreth 

Old Glory gets proper sendoff

 

December 21, 2017

Ed Moreth

TINY ADDITION – VFW member Bob Kunch holds the smallest flag of the retirement.

Few words were spoken after Navy veteran Ron Kilbury led the Plains group in the Pledge of Allegiance. After that, all that could be heard was the crackling of the flames that were consuming the tattered remnants of Old Glory.

One by one, members of VFW Post 3596 and Boy Scout Troop 1957 placed flags into the fire while nearly a dozen people from the community looked on Dec. 7 in the rear parking lot of the VFW for its flag retirement ceremony. The post conducts a flag retirement ceremony each year on Dec. 7, to honor those Americans who perished in the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 76 years ago, pushing the United States into World War II.

One hundred and sixteen unserviceable flags – including eight military service flags and one POW/MIA flag – were given a ceremonial sendoff. As is tradition, the 37X20-foot U.S. flag from the Sanders County Fairgrounds was dissected into numerous pieces for the burning. VFW members cut each red and white stripe out separately, as well as the canton – the blue field of stars – the day before the ceremony. Each stripe was cast into the fire as Kilbury, the master of ceremonies, told what state it stood for.

The club started the Dec. 7 ceremony in 2001, joining Boy Scout Troop 46 of Plains under the leadership of Scoutmaster Joe Sheppard, to help the boys learn proper flag etiquette. Casey Thompson, scoutmaster of Troop 1957 of the LDS Church, said the boys learn about flag history and proper ways to carry and post a flag.

"This is the best way to show respect of the flag and the veterans that served our country," said Thompson, an Eagle Scout. He said this was the first time his troop has participated in the VFW retirement ceremony, but they'd like to do it again.

"I am the flag that stands for the greatest nation on earth," read Thompson Falls resident Kilbury at the start of the ceremony. "I am no more than what you believe me to be, and I am all that you believe I can be. Look at her with renewed allegiance, honor her, respect her, and defend her," he added.

"This is one way that we show respect for the flag," said club member Charles "Ole" Oelschlager, who served aboard the USS Vulcan during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. "You shouldn't just throw it in the trash. It's a matter of respect," said Oelschlager, who has participated in just about every flag retirement since he joined the VFW in 1974. He said it makes him feel patriotic every time he does it.

Oelschlager and about a dozen VFW members gathered at the club the day before and folded all the flags, a task that took about 45 minutes. Kilbury said a few of the flags were difficult to fold into the traditional triangle due to their small size. Navy veteran and club member Bob Kunch brought in a flag that measured only 1¼ inches long.

Ed Moreth

PROPER RETIREMENT – U.S. flags are engulfed in flames during VFW Post 3596's annual retirement ceremony in Plains.

The ceremony ended with Navy Vietnam War veteran Joe Eisenbrandt playing Taps on an electronic bugle.

"I think of the people that died protecting this flag," said Doug Browning, the post commander and the only active duty man at the ceremony. Now part of the 972nd Engineer Company in Missoula, Browning has been a member of the U.S. Army Reserves for 26 years and a second time post commander. Browning said he gets angry when he sees people burning the flag in protest or when football players refuse to stand during the national anthem.

"People just don't understand what the flag means or the significance of Pearl Harbor," said Don Kunzer, an Army veteran of wars in Vietnam, Korea and Uzbekistan before retiring from the 279th Engineer Battalion as a master sergeant seven years ago. Kunzer buries the flag ashes a few days after the ceremony.

 

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