Old Glory gets fitting goodbye

The third annual ceremony, held during Flag Week, provides an official procedure for disposing of U.S. and state flags that are torn, tattered or faded. Sergeant-at-Arms Felix Sosa, shown facing the fire, estimated that 100 or more flags were brought to the ceremony for disposal. Among the people attending and assisting in the ceremony were members of the Boy Scout Troop 149, the Redlands Fire Department and American Legion Riders. Catalina Sosa, chaplain of the American Legion Auxiliary, is shown to the side of her husband while Jaime Fierro assists Sosa. The ceremony included prayers, the playing of Taps and the ritual of disposing of the first flag by cutting off each stripe and naming an original colony as the stripe is laid in the fire.