Young scouts witness retiring of American flags

Slightly under 100 Girl Scouts and troop leaders looked on as doz­ens of worn, tattered and retired American flags in varying sizes were cremated in a large, iron urn at the Alpine VFW post Saturday morning.

The ceremony was held accord­ing to the United States Flag Code adopted on June 14, 1923.

Troop 5248 hosted the event under the leadership of Shannon Thornton, with scouts of all ages from troops 5810, 5932, 5090, 5931, 5832 and others from Alpine, Har­bison Canyon and El Cajon showing up to pay homage as years’ worth of donated and gathered flags deemed too worn to serve were laid to rest in their smoky grave.

Prior to the flag ceremony, local veteran and Wall of Honor orga­nizer Dan Foster introduced the morning and told the scouts that they were able to sit at the event because American is a free country and that the flag is a symbol of that freedom.

“Freedom gives us a chance to sit here today, gives us a chance to salute the Girl Scouts… America is something that you ought to be proud of,” Foster said.

Retired Bonita Vista high school teacher Sharon Leslie led the girls on a history lesson from the battles of Lexington and Concord through the inception of the American flag and an explanation of Francis Scott Key’s penning of our national an­them.

The former world history and government teacher spoke in a measured voice at the podium, calmly holding the attention of everyone in the room includ­ing Foster and Thornton, along with VFW Quartermaster Carl Silva, VFW Chaplain Theo Ba­zdorf, VFW Commander Jack Gauthier and firefighters from Alpine Fire District.

“I had forgotten how powerful she can be as a speaker and I was in awe. The little girls sat there the whole time, totally quiet– you can’t help but be enthralled at how she speaks,” Thornton said.

Following the formal speech­es from Foster and Leslie in the VFW meeting room, the scouts all proceeded to the fire waiting outside where Bazdorf and Gauthier briefly spoke on ceremony then lowered the first flag in to the waiting flames.

After the first three flags were cremated, scouts were re­leased from the ceremony. Baz­dorf dutifully remained at the fiery grave and laid the remain­ing flags to rest.

Silva later commented that he couldn’t believe how atten­tive the scouts were consider­ing that some of the youngest Brownies are only in first grade.