By Mary O’KEEFE

Crescenta Valley High School JROTC held a flag retirement on Nov 13 on the school campus. It was traditional, solemn and patriotic and included a visit from Los Angeles County Fire and L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept., CV Station.

Led by Col. Worley and 25 cadets from the CV High School JROTC Drill and Ceremony team, 2,951 American Flags were respectfully retired in two pyres, in a ceremony that followed the U.S. Flag Code. More than 50 residents, many standing on Prospect Avenue, witnessed the ceremony.

As local veterans from American Legion Post 288 and VFW Post 1614 put the flags on the retirement pyres, county fire personnel arrived with sirens wailing. After a brief conversation with Col. Worley, they retreated, sirens still wailing. Near the end of the flag burning, county sheriff deputies stopped by to check the required burning permit. After finding everything in order, they left.

Many at the ceremony asked why there were so many flags being retired. Of the 2,951 American flags, approximately 2,500 came from the City of Glendale. Most of these flags had flown over the boulevards, streets and avenues of the city. The city had been collecting them for 10 years and needed to clean out the room, so they asked Col. Worley to retire them properly.

The balance of the flags were collected by the JROTC cadets, American Legion, VFW, Chamber of Commerce, CV Weekly and other civic organizations.

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  Mary Okeefe