Honoring

GRANTS, N.M. - On Flag Day, June 14, 2021, the American Legion Post 80 held a ceremony to retire 687 U.S. Flags. Post Commander Aaron Dean said the reason why they had so many flags to retire was that they could not host the ceremony last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The American Legion has been hosting this Flag Day ceremony for the past 15 years as a way for citizens to properly retire old, tattered flags by fire.

“Individuals can retire a flag in the name of a veteran family member, or fellow military friends that have passed on,” Dean said.

Roughly 50 citizens were on hand to witness or to retire flags during the ceremony.

“It was a good turnout,” Dean said. “Some of our veterans got really emotional. Melvin Lewis, a U.S. Army veteran of Vietnam said it was very emotional for him and he was so happy to witness the event.”

Dean asks the community to never throw a flag in the trash. If anyone has a flag that needs to be retired, they can take it to the American Legion Post 80, located at 121 S 3rd St, Grants, N.M. where Dean said the flag will be retired properly.