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Worn Flags Retired in Ceremony at Stony Point Battlefield - 13 June, 2009
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The Journal News: AKIKO MATSUDA
June 13, 2009
STONY POINT - Andrea Gennis of Nanuet has been looking for a place to properly dispose of her family's old U.S. flags for quite some time.
So when she got the information about the flag retirement ceremony held yesterday morning at the Stony this Battlefield State Historic Site, she didn't miss the opportunity.
"I've never been here before," Gennis said of the state historic site. "I'm glad to be here."
Gennis was one of more than 50 people who gathered for the fifth annual ceremony organized by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Stony Point Chapter, along with the Sons of the American Revolution Stony Point Chapter, the Rockland County Marine Corps League Color Guard, and Boy Scout Troop 21.
Martha Erickson, a regent of the DAR who emceed the event, said the ceremony to celebrate the Flag Day has been growing every year.
Battlefield Historian Warren Moseman said a total of about 250 flags were brought in for this year's retirement ceremony.
Erickson explained the history of the flag to the audience and moved onto the retirement ritual, in which the union portion - one star for each state - and the stripes were separated before being placed in the fire.
Stony Point's ceremony is unique because most of participants of the flag retirement ritual were dressed in colonial-style costumes from the Revolutionary War era.
Erickson, wearing a blue flower-print dress accented with white lace, said reenactors at the battlefield site gave her the idea to wear traditional dresses.
"For a couple of years, we didn't wear costumes. Then we said, 'Let's wear our costumes,' " Erickson recalled. "I think it gives a little authenticity to it."
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