'A proper sendoff'
Lake City Academy seventh-grader Caleb Crawford ignites the cremation flame during a flag retirement ceremony at the school Wednesday morning. "I felt very special to be able to do such an important thing,” he said.
Courtesy photo
Lake City Academy student Breaux Smock, left, and music teacher Josh Bennett, who served in the Marine Corps for five years, retire an old American flag on Veterans Day.
COEUR d’ALENE — Students stood in the cold and snow Veterans Day morning to participate in a sacred American tradition.
The Stars and Stripes that had faded and been set aside were given a dignified ceremony as Lake City Academy music teacher and Marine Corps veteran Josh Bennett led the students in retiring and cremating that grand old flag.
"I talked about how I had retired my father-in-law's flag when we got a new flag for him," Bennett said Wednesday.
"The principal thought, 'What a great idea'" to have students participate in a flag retirement ceremony, he said.
Bennett explained that when an American flag no longer strongly represents what it's meant to represent, it's time to carefully and respectfully bring her down.
"It's a proper sendoff," Bennett said. "Freedom, honor and respect, those are ephemeral things. You can’t hold them in your hands. The flag is a fabric, but it is representative of all the things we stand for."
Bennett and the students cut the stars away from the stripes and placed the fabric in a fire bowl. Seventh-grader Caleb Crawford, whose great-grandfather was a WWII B-17 bomber tail gunner, had the privilege of striking the cremation flame.
"I didn't know that you cut up the flag before you cremated it," Caleb said. "I felt very special to be able to do such an important thing."
According to the United States Flag Code, "The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem of display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”
Bennett said he encourages the word "cremation," as "burning" can have negative connotations. The Flag Code explains that "cremation" indicates respect to the deceased and to objects worthy of veneration.
The ceremony was powerful and educational for the students as they learned how to retire a flag with dignity. It gave Caleb pause as he thought about America's heroes and for what the American flag stands.
"We need to respect our veterans and let them know that we’re thankful for what they did," he said.
