Selden VFW post honors Flag Day with retiring ceremony

When Bill Mahoney walked his Selden neighborhood Monday morning, he was happy to see flags on display.

"It was reassuring to see people with their flags up," said Mahoney, 64, post commander of VFW Post 400 in Selden. "It's nice there are civic-minded people out there, conscientious people. It reflects on the pride in our country and the freedoms we have."

Monday was Flag Day, which commemorates Congress adopting the Stars and Stripes as the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777.

While it is a day to honor and display Old Glory, Mahoney said, it also is a time to show the flag proper respect. His post did that with a small, informal ceremony to retire about two dozen flags. Old, worn flags should be retired by burning them, not just tossing them into the trash, he said.

Mahoney said eight post members Monday burned about two dozen old flags - collected from area residents, businesses and schools - in a metal urn in the post's parking lot. The ceremony, which took about an hour, included a salute to Stars and Stripes, a moment of silence and some short comments from veterans about the meaning of the flag, Mahoney said.

"I was thinking about some of our members who passed away recently and about what the flag means to us," said Jim Sweetman, 70, a Vietnam vet from Lake Ronkonkoma.

Mahoney said the flags' ashes would be taken to Calverton National Cemetery to be buried on "sacred ground," an area reserved for the ashes of retired flags.