From left, Bob Hunter of the Freeport Kiwanis Club, VFW member Steve Gardner, and post quartermaster Jim Bollinger cut the ceremonial flag into individual stripes during the VFW Post 6648's annual Retirement of the Flag Ceremony at Riverside Park in Freeport on Wednesday.

Freeport — Members of the Freeport VFW Post 6648 gathered with residents Wednesday evening for the annual Retirement of the Flag ceremony in Riverside Park.

Event organizer Donna Klaput Gardner of Freeport said this is the fifth or sixth year for this ceremony.

Gardner said the VFW begins collecting damaged and worn flags for the ceremony around Memorial Day each year. Flags can be taken to the VFW Post, the Freeport Post Office and the Freeport Library.

“But we also say if you have one to bring, bring it with you,” Gardner said. “We'll add it to the pile.”

The VFW also collects the flags from cemeteries for retirement during the ceremony. Gardner said there are about 750 of those flags alone.

Each year, following the formal ceremony, Gardner and her husband, Steve, stay with other VFW members to retire each flag, she said.

“We have one flag that we ceremoniously cut up and burn and the audience participates,” Gardner said.

According to U.S. Code: Title 4, Chapter 1, the flag must be “destroyed in a dignified way” when its condition becomes unfit for display. Gardner said this usually means burning the flag and burying the ashes.

The first step to retiring the flag is to remove any rods or rivets. Next, Gardner said the starry blue field, called the canton, is cut from the rest of the flag.

“Then each of the stripes are cut off and a little verse is read and they're burned,” Gardner said. “The canton goes in last.”

Anyone with a nonserviceable flag is welcome to retire it as long as he does so correctly and with the proper respect, Gardner said.“There are certain things about the actual burning, like having the fire not used for any other purposes,” Gardner said. “You can't throw any trash in it. Sometimes because of all the different chemicals that are in the material, it gets kind of stinky.”Gardner recommended those who are unsure of how to retire a flag to contact a VFW post or Boy Scout troop, as both organizations are familiar with the retirement procedure.The Pittsburgh Battalion of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps acted as Color Guard for the event Wednesday. Civil War re-enactors from the 78th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry performed the gun salute.“We try to really make it about the flag and it's importance to us as a nation,” Gardner said.

Eagle Scout Jarod Check of Birdville Troop 186 throws the final piece of the ceremonial flag, the canton, into the fire during the VFW Post 6648 annual Retirement of the Flag Ceremony. According to U.S. Code, the flag must be “destroyed in a dignified way” when its condition becomes unfit for display.