Elks Lodge honors Old Glory with flag retirement ceremony

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - A flag was retired at a ceremony at the Elks Lodge in Idaho Falls as part of the Lodge's Flag Day ceremony.

Scouts raised a flag on a flag pole to start the ceremony. The attendees recited the Pledge of Allegiance while saluting and putting their hands over their hearts. The American Legion then did a rifle salute and played “Taps” on the bugle. The flag was then put in a barrel and reverently burned.

Sherree Engelstad, Elks Lodge’s Exalted Ruler, says the lodge is one of the only organizations that still observes Flag Day each year.

“I am proud to be an American,” she said. “And I am privileged to be able to hold this position in this Lodge so that we can honor all of our veterans and American citizens.”

Flag Day commemorates the United States adoption of the flag on June 14, 1777 (247 years ago) by the Second Continental Congress. The resolution said “That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."