Benny’s American Flag Retirement program began on July 1. What they aim to do is provide people with a way to properly retire their flags that are no longer fit for service.
“The idea actually came from a man named David Chappell,” said Benny’s co-owner Arnold Bromberg, “who owned Damon’s Hardware in Wakefield. When his business closed, he came to work with us and he brought his idea with him.”
Bromberg said that Chappell also brought his connections with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and what started as an idea for a service in Wakefield became a company-wide program.
Each Benny’s location has a bin marked for people to leave their worn flags. The location varies with each store; the Benny’s on Warwick Avenue in Warwick has their bin at the front end of an aisle, directly next to the cash registers.
Once the bin is filled, it will be stored in the security room until ready to be transferred to the Benny’s warehouse in Smithfield.
After the warehouse has consolidated the flags they will be shipped to the Benny’s location in Wakefield. The flags will stay there until the Veterans of Foreign Affairs Post 916 in Wakefield picks them up every other week. The VFW will then deliver them to the Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery in Exeter, which will retire the flags.
The US Flag Code states that a flag should be destroyed in a dignified manner once it is no longer serviceable, and the preferred method is to burn the flag.
The Boy Scouts of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars are two of the organizations that have been properly trained in the disposal of American flags.
“Traditionally, to retire an American flag, it’s done in three steps,” said Bromberg. “You fold the flag, then you burn it, and then you bury the ashes.”
VFW Post 916 Commander Steve Stewart offered some more details on the service and retirement ceremony. He said they’ll be taking all the flags to the cemetery, where they will be folded and rolled for retirement. “You want to get a good fire going and place the flag over it; they’ll say a prayer and do a hand salute, and then when the flag is done burning, they’ll bury the ashes.”
Stewart also said that if the flag is made out of plastic, it would be shredded instead of burned. If the flag is made out of a synthetic material, such as nylon, it can’t be burned because of the toxic chemicals that will be released in the air. So flags made out of synthetic materials will be properly folded and then buried where no one can see it.
“We believe our program to be an adequate and respectful process in terms of handling, moving, and properly retiring of American Flags,” said Benny’s spokesman Dante Bellini Jr., executive vice president and partner of RDW Group.
“We have as much respect for the flag as anyone, so we don’t want to take any shortcuts,” said Bromberg.
The American Flag Retirement service bins can be found in all 32 Benny’s locations, including those in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
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