Karis Hunt

How do you retire the American flag?

Option One: A Ceremonial Burning

This is the preferred method of disposal, according to the United States government. The American Legion has produced a detailed procedure for retiring old American flags through burning that they approved at their 19th National Convention in September 1937. Essential elements include:

• Conducting the ceremony at night

• Maintaining a reverent atmosphere

• Ensuring that the flag is properly folded before burning

• Only burning the flag in a large bonfire

• Ensuring all parts of the flag fully burn down to ashes

• Offering prayers of thanks afterward

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Option Two: Cutting Your Flag

Because modern flags are made from petroleum-based products, burning them releases toxic gases such as "formaldehyde, ammonia, carbon monoxide, cyclopentanone, oxides of nitrogen, traces of hydrogen cyanide [and] incompletely burned hydrocarbons." Therefore, people are increasingly looking to methods other than ceremonial burning to respectfully dispose of an American flag. Cutting your flag into pieces is one approved option for disposal. This is acceptable because once it is cut into pieces, it is no longer considered a flag. The Procedure for Cutting and Retiring a Flag dictates you must:

• Stretch the flag out by its four corners.

• Cut the flag in half widthwise, being careful not to cut in any part of the blue area. This blue star field symbolizes the union of all 50 states and therefore should not be cut or otherwise split apart in any way.

• Put the two halves together and cut in half lengthwise.

• This will leave you with four sections of flag. Three will be red and white stripes, and one will be the blue star field.

• Dispose of these pieces of the flag properly.

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Option Four: Flag Burial

Another retirement alternative is flag burial :

• Folding your flag correctly.

• Placing it in a wooden box.

• Burying it in the ground.

• Offering a short funeral or prayer for your flag after you have buried it