West Concord Legion disposes of old flags

Members of the West Concord Legion Post 295 and Auxiliary gathered in the backyard of the Legion Hall last week for a ceremony to dispose of American flags no longer in a condition to be used.
After collecting more than 50 flags from local residents, Post Commander Myron Ehrich read the appropriate words and asked if the flags had been inspected and deemed to be unusable.
The flags were then taken one by one, carried by Legion members, to the fire pit where they were burned.
U.S. law provides specific instructions on how flags that have outlived their usefulness should be destroyed.
Ehrich said that although Legion posts in Dodge Center, Kasson and Hayfield hold such ceremonies on a regular basis, it had been a number of years since West Concord had done so.
He estimated that during the time frame where people were invited to drop off the flags at the Legion Hall, Farmers State Bank or City Hall that they had acquired at least 50 flags.
Among the Legion members on hand to help with the disposal of the flags was World War II veteran Dick Jorgenson. Jorgenson is one of three World War II veterans in the post, along with Thomas Hall and Bob Rundquist.
There are a couple of Korean War veterans in the membership, officials said, but the majority of the veterans belonging to the organization are from the Vietnam era.