When U.S. flags become too soiled or too tattered, the equivalent of dying, they go to Hood Mortuary.
“I collect unserviceable flags once a week and deliver them to the Hood crematorium,” Fred Riedinger, a retired U.S. Coast Guard chief warrant officer, said Wednesday. “Hood has been very good about it, doing it for free.”
Hood incinerates the flags when it has time.
Riedinger collects the flags from a drop-off bin at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 4031. They’re left by the city of Durango, La Plata County, schools, offices of elected officials and private parties, Riedinger said.
He collects about 1,000 flags a year.
“When I leave flags with Ryan (Phelps) at Hood’s, I say a respectful prayer,” Riedinger said. “It’s part of the VFW bylaws.”
All military organizations, as well as the Boy Scouts and the Elks, have a flag-disposal etiquette, he said.
There are no governmental regulations regarding the disposal of U.S. flags that have outlived their usefulness, Riedinger said.
“The train (coal-burning Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad locomotives) sure does a job on flags,” Riedinger said. “City Cleaners can’t do a thing for them.”
He hastily added: “But we’d rather have the train and deal with the flags.”
The lifespan of a flag depends a lot on location, Riedinger said. High wind can tear them apart quickly.
Riedinger estimated the VFW has disposed of 15,000 flags since it began the service in 2000.
daler@durangoherald.com
