Legion post retires flags with dignity

Practice makes perfect, even when it comes to retiring Old Glory.

Members of the American Legion will conduct flag-retirement ceremonies at the Red, White and Blue Veterans Celebration on Saturday at the Doctors Hospital field behind the Evans Kroger. The event will be from 6 to 9 p.m. and admission is free.

To practice for the Memorial Day event, the members have been conducting smaller - but no less reverent - flag retirements at American Legion Post 192 on Owens Road.

American Legion Department of Georgia Sergeant-at-Arms Jim Wheland encourages the public to bring flags to the American Legion if they need to be retired.

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"We just don't throw flags away," said Wheland, 62, a retired Army sergeant first class. "We do a ceremony to do it properly. The only proper way to dispose of a flag is to burn and/or bury it. We burn it, or retire it, and then we gather the remains and bury them."

In addition to the flag retirement ceremony, the Red, White and Blue Veterans Celebration will feature the U.S. Army Signal Corps Band, a parade, fireworks, arts and crafts vendors and more.

Celebration organizers are also looking for a few good dessert cooks. They're accepting desserts donations for the Hospitality Tent to feed event volunteers, Girl Scouts, soldiers in the U.S. Army Signal Corps Band and others. Any goodies can be dropped off at the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce from 9 a.m. to noon Friday.