Southampton Eagle Scout Candidate Helps Retire ‘Old Glory’

The Fourth of July brings out pride and patriotism for many of those who call the United States home. One readily recognizable way of showing that patriotic feeling is by letting our nation’s colors fly freely for all to see.

However, over the years, some United States flags have become torn or faded, and may need to be properly retired.

Enter Winston Stauffer, Eagle Scout candidate with Boy Scout Troop 400, based in Northampton.

Winston, an Upper Southampton resident, chose to collect as many United States Flags ready for retirement.

Troop 400, as led by Winston, will ceremoniously retire the flags on Aug. 17 at 5 p.m. The Flag Retirement Ceremony will take place at troop’s base, the Bux-Mont Christian Church, located at 400 Jacksonville Road in Ivyland.

According to Phil Strunk, Bux-Mont Christian Church Preaching minster and Boy Scout Troop 400 Charter Organization representative, the public is encouraged to attend the event.

“It’s a pretty cool ceremony,” Strunk said.

Strunk said that Winston is the first Eagle Scout candidate of Troop 400 (started nine years ago) to choose American Flag collection as his Eagle Scout project. He added that the Boy Scouts of conducting the flag's proper retirement ceremony.

The flag collections are specifically for banner sized American Flags. According to Strunk, a Bensalem resident, Winston has reached out to local VFW or American Legion posts, as well as other places within Upper Southampton and surrounding communities.

One of the places to drop off your retirement-ready American Flag is at the Southampton Free Library.

A large vertical, blue box is located in the antechamber of the library, toward the right side as entering through the library’s main doors.

“I wouldn’t know where to go to drop off a damaged flag,” Kim Ingram, Southampton Free Library and I thought, ‘What a great opportunity for our patrons to drop off the flag and respectively dispose of the American flag.”

Retiring “Old Glory”

As described on www.usscouts.org, the various stages and aspects of the Flag Retirement Ceremony are conducted with the highest regard to our nation’s colors.

The website states that a flag ceases to be a flag when it is cut into pieces. Traditionally, the flag should be cut systematically with scissors or shears with the corners of the flag stretched out. The flag should be cut in half, then vertically, careful not to cut up the blue star field, which represents the states’ unity. Place th two halves together and cut them in half horizontally, resulting in four pieces of the flag, one being the blue star field, the website states.

According to Strunk, Troop 400’s flag-cutting process involves cutting each of the 13 stripes, while leaving the blue star field intact.

In both cases, the pieces of the flag are ceremoniously incinerated.

According to Strunk, Boy Scout Troop 400’s ceremony will include a fire pit, created by the Boy Scouts, and located on the Bux-Mont Christian Church property. After the Boy Scout Flag Retirement Ceremony, a bugler within Troop 400 will perform “Taps.”

According to www.ushistory.org, some modern Flag Retirement ceremonies may not require the flag to be cut into pieces, as some may consider offense. Likewise, some retirement ceremonies may opt to bury as opposed to burn the flag, as some flags are made with synthetic materials that will emit noxious smoke when burned.

The public is invited to participate in the Boy Scout Troop 400 Flag Retirement Ceremony. For more information, visit the Bux-Mont Christian Church website or call 215-322-1732.