Rep. Ackert Receives Hundreds of Flags for Retirement Ceremony

COVENTRY – Over the past month, State Representative Tim Ackert (R-8) has sponsored a worn, tattered, torn, or otherwise unusable U.S. Flags collection which culminated in a formal retirement ceremony held on Flag Day, where the Coventry Mansfield American Legion Post 52 held a flag burning ceremony to retire the collected flags.

Coventry Boy Scout Troop 65 and scout masters also assisted with the preparation for an earlier retirement ceremony held at the Booth & Dimock Memorial Library. During the ceremony, the flag is saluted one last time.

According to United States Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 8, “The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”

Rep. Ackert placed boxes throughout the 8th district in order to allow residents an opportunity to drop off any flag whose condition was no longer serviceable. Prior to the official collection date, flags at the Coventry Town Hall needed to be picked up do to the amount they had already received.

State Representative Tim Ackert holds up the largest flag he received during this year’s collection of weathered U.S. flags for retirement.

“I expected we would receive a large amount of flags based off of what we’ve received in years past, but I never could have expected the outpouring of flags we collected this year,” Rep. Ackert said. “I want to thank all of those who participated in the flag collection and those who conducted the ceremony to retire them, it was an once again an honor to have been a part of it.”

Flag Day, the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777, was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson’s proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 of each year as National Flag Day.