Guilford County held a very successful celebration honoring the American flag and fallen heroes at the Old Guilford County Court House last week and now county officials say they want to begin mass flag disposal ceremonies to help raise the awareness of veterans and their service throughout the community.
On Thursday, Nov. 8, the county held a flag retirement ceremony in the commissioners meeting room of the old courthouse to mark the opening of two flag disposal boxes in Guilford County at the Greensboro and High Point Register of Deeds offices.
Boy Scout troops in Guilford County will properly dispose of flags when they are dropped off at the county’s two flag disposal cylinders. At the ceremony, John McPhail, who heads up the Guilford County district of the Boy Scouts of America, said he could envision 9,000 people at Grasshopper Stadium observing the ceremony as a community and have them leave in total silence – as is called for in flag disposal practices. He said flag retirement calls for the fire to die out on its own rather than be extinguished. McPhail said that often means one person at least stays late into the night.
At the Nov. 8 ceremony, Commissioner Hank Henning, an Iraqi war veteran, spoke, as did Commissioner Kay Cashion, who was active in the new flag disposal initiative.
County staff clearly put a good deal of work into the moving ceremony that had family members of fallen soldiers in attendance.
One county employee said the ceremony was put together quickly but staff was pleased with how it came off.
“If we’d had more time, we would have had a flyover,” the employee said.
