Choctaw Area Council Scout Executive/CEO James A. Hulgan, left, shakes hands with Webb & Stephens Family Services Manager Billy Hawn at the Choctaw Area Council's office on Eighth Street in Meridian. Submitted photo

Webb & Stephens Funeral Homes announced its flag retirement program June 20 as an initiative aimed at honoring both veterans who have passed and American flags no longer fit for display.

 

Webb & Stephens placed a donation bin for these flags at their location on Highway 39 North in Meridian. Scouting America Choctaw Area Council agreed to support the program and allowed a bin to be placed at their office location on Eighth Street as well.

 

Webb and Stephens’s General Manager Joe Tew said the funeral home hopes to reach more people within the community who support veterans.

“We want to show respect to our service members and to our country as a whole,” said Tew. “We’re grateful to our local scouts and hope that more organizations in Meridian will help us collect American flags.”

 

The United States Flag Code provides specific instructions for how to properly dispose of an American flag once it is torn or tattered beyond repair: burning the flag or placing the flag in a container and burying it in the earth. When a veteran passes and comes into Webb & Stephens’s care, the funeral home will either burn the flag with a veteran who chooses cremation or place the retired flag inside the casket of a veteran who chooses burial.

 

“This program signifies the patriotism we all should have,” said Tew. “We will always strive to respect the symbol of our nation as well as the men and women who risk their lives to keep us free.”

 

To learn more about the program, donate a flag, or request a donation bin, call 601-483-2206, or stop by the Webb & Stephens North location at 7774-A Highway 39 in Meridian.