Pack 35 closed out another successful scouting year with a family bonfire celebration and annual flag retirement ceremony at Aliso Beach on Wednesday, June 13.
Many of the boys received their final patches of the year, including the community service patch for their participation in the Memorial Day flag placement ceremony at Pacific View Cemetery in Newport Beach. Grilled hot dogs, burgers and s’mores followed.
The evening’s most poignant moment was the official retirement of various worn American flags donated for inclusion in the retirement ceremony. Preparation included the careful disassembly of the flags into strips, distributed to each of the scouts for solemn retirement in the bonfire.
The traditional method of retirement is to incinerate the flag after it is cut into pieces, though the blue star field is left intact as is it represents the union of the 50 states, which should never broken.
