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Veteran seeks dignified vessel for burning flags
Photo
Ray Braidich, a World War II veteran, stands by the American flag mounted outside his home at Shepherd of the Valley-Poland. Braidich thinks there should be a more-dignified vessel in which to burn worn flags, noting that a trash can or burn barrel is often used in flag-disposal ceremonies.
BY WILLIAM K. ALCORN
POLAND
The U.S. flag is the symbol that holds this country together, and worn flags ought to be disposed of in a dignified vessel, says World War II veteran Ray Braidich.
Flag etiquette calls for a “dignified burning ceremony” for a flag that is “so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of our country.”
It is not the burning that offends Braidich, who served in the Marine Corps’ 9th 155mm Gun Battalion heavy artillery in the Battle of Okinawa in the spring and early summer of 1945.
It is where the flags are burned — sometimes in a burn barrel or a garbage can or just a big pile on the ground. Sometimes, he said, a few flags are burned at a ceremony, and the rest are cremated at a funeral home.
“I think using a garbage can is treating our flag like a rag, and I don’t feel flags should be burned where people are burned,” he said.
“Some people think I’m nuts, but I’ve been thinking and talking about this for 10 years and decided to try and do something about it,” said Braidich, one of the founders and the first president of the Mahoning Valley Veterans Memorial on the Canfield Fairgrounds.
He has been active in several veterans organizations over the years including the Tri-State Detachment of the Marine Corps League; AMVETS Post 44, of which he is a past commander; VFW 9947 in Cornersburg; and American Legion Post 15 in Poland.
But what Braidich really wants is to attract the attention of a local firm to come up with an idea for a uniform vessel in which to burn flags, “maybe a big stainless-steel grill. I’d like to see it made here to provide employment,” he said.
Braidich, 92, grew up on Scioto Avenue on Youngstown’s East Side and graduated in 1936 from Scienceville High School. He worked at various jobs and attended night school at Youngstown College for about a year before being drafted into the Marine Corps in 1943. He was discharged in 1945.
After the war, he worked 43 years for the Youngstown City Health Department, retiring as chief dairy sanitarian, and lived in Cornersburg for many years before moving to Shepherd of the Valley-Poland in 1995.
With the U.S. flag never far from his thoughts, Braidich started a flag program at Shepherd of the Valley along with his friend William Wade, former chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party.
“Bill put up the flag holders, and I bought the flags with money donated by the AMVETS 600 Club. At its peak, we had about 70 flags flying,” he said.
He returned to the subject dear to his heart, a more dignified end for worn-out flags.
“Maybe it’s wishful thinking,” he said of persuading a manufacturer to come up with something more dignified in which to burn flags. But, he said, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”