Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer recently joined with Councilwoman Jacqueline Gordon, the Town’s Veterans Advisory Committee and members of the Town Board for the Town’s Flag Retirement Ceremony at Town Hall in Lindenhurst, where local veterans groups instructed boy scouts, girl scouts and cub scouts the proper way to respectfully dispose of old American flags. Over a dozen scout groups from the area participated in the event, in addition to various local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and American Legion posts.
Councilwoman Gordon, who is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserves and serves as Chairperson of the Veterans Advisory Committee, led the ceremony and was joined by Commander Charles Volpe of American Legion Sgt. John Sardiello Post 1634 to speak of the importance of properly retiring an American flag. Scouts then broke off into groups led by representatives of the veterans organizations and were taught the procedure, which includes running the flag up the pole, folding it properly and then placing it in a fire. Local fire departments were in attendance to ensure fire safety.
The ceremony also served to unveil new signage in front of Town Hall declaring Babylon a “Proud Purple Heart Town” to recognize those service members who have earned the Purple Heart Medal for being wounded or killed in battle. Supervisor Schaffer and Councilwoman Gordon paid respect to residents of the Town who received the honor and presented them with official Town proclamations in appreciation of their sacrifices