Veterans organizations and civic leaders observed Flag Day Monday by dedicating a flag depository box located outside the Baxter County Veterans Service Office.
The box, which is located at 5 East 9th Street in Mountain Home, accepts donations of tattered, worn or otherwise unserviceable American flags that need to be retired. Another flag depository box can be found at the Alley-White American Legion Post 52, located at 717 Market Street in Mountain Home
Flags left in either the Veterans Service Office or American Legion depository boxes will be collected twice a month by members of the Mountain Home High School’s Navy Junior ROTC program, who will ceremonially fold the flags and turn them over to a local funeral home. When a veteran passes away and is cremated, one of the retired flags will be draped over the veterans body and disposed of in a dignified, ceremonial manner through the cremation process.
Bud Zorman, instructor for the NJROTC, talks about the benefits of having a flag depository box.
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At Monday’s dedication, NJROTC cadets ceremonially folded a large American flag and then deposited it into the box. That flag came from a local bank that had donated the flag to the JROTC program to be retired.
After the first flag was deposited, the American Legion Honor Guard fired a rifle volley and performed “Taps” to close out the dedication ceremony.
The NJROTC’s initial flag was soon joined by a dozen other American flags — some big, some small — being dropped into the box by ceremony attendees.
The new flag depository stands about waist high and has a chrome finish. The bottom half of the box advises “Flags should not be tossed in the garbage or shredded.”
Zorman talks about the importance of the public knowing about flag etiquette.
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Zorman said he’s wanted to create a flag depository box operated by NJROTC cadets for several years, but the program’s limited funds kept that from becoming a reality. He said serving on a veterans advisory board lead to the box’s creation.
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Leftover funds from the purchase of the flag depository box will be used for maintenance and upkeep of the Veterans Memorial Wall on the courthouse square.
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