KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Friday the Missouri Korean War Veterans Memorial Committee is collecting and retiring old, tattered flags and retiring them with dignity by burning them. While most Americans would shudder at the thought of burning the United States flag, committee member Bob Kalkofen states that flag code mandates it.
“The flag of our nation needs to be retired respectfully, the U.S. flag code states that it needs to be burned in a respectful manner, which is what we’re doing today,” Kalkofen said.
Kalfkonen said that it’s important that any flag that is going to be retired needs to be completely intact. It is a sign of disrespect to cut it in any way, even if the intention is to retire it. There are a variety of organizations that can help an individual give an old flag the proper retirement.
“The flag can be brought to any veteran service organization, VFW or American Legion. What we do then is we have a cauldron we’re going to burn the flag in, those ashes then are going to be buried at a national cemetery after we retire all the flags we’ve received and we’re going to receive,” Kalfkonen said.
Today the Missouri Korean War Veterans Memorial Committee is accepting flags until about 10:30 a.m. at Washington Square Park.
