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Flag-disposal device is dream come true
SALEM
Raymond J. Braidich’s 10-year dream of a dignified vessel in which to burn worn-out U.S. flags has come true.
A portable, propane gas-fueled flag-disposal device, dubbed the “Braidich Burner,” was unveiled and demonstrated Tuesday at CMI Industry Americas in Salem.
“I don’t know what to say. There are no words,” said a grateful Braidich, a World War II Marine Corps veteran who witnessed a six-minute burn that incinerated a number of flags.
The U.S. flag is the symbol that holds this country together, and worn flags ought to be disposed of in a dignified vessel, Braidich said. Flag etiquette calls for a “dignified burning ceremony,” Braidich said in an interview last fall.
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 1945. He is involved in several veterans organizations.
It is in what or where the flags are burned — sometimes in a burn barrel or a garbage can or just in 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 at the time.
What Braidich wanted was for his idea to attract the attention of a local firm that would design and build something in which to burn flags, “maybe a big stainless-steel grill. I’d like to see it made here to provide employment,” he said.
CMI Industry Americas read Braidich’s story and took on the job.
In a letter to Braidich, the company wrote in part: “You answered your country’s call to duty and served honorably, and you still volunteer and assist our soldiers and veterans today. So when you asked for a more dignified vessel for disposal of the flags ... we knew that someone had to step up and help.”
CMI employees principally responsible for the creation of the Braidich Burner are Scott Brown, Bob Ward, Jan Needham, a Navy veteran, Joel Turkovich, Army veteran, Barry Braddeley, Johnny Myers, Army veteran, Bill Shaw, Bryon Thomas, Ryan Owens, Mike Karmazin, Michel Olivier, Jim Whinnery, Mark Estep, Tom McCartney, Gary Fontana, plant manager and Army veteran, and company president, Thomas Walgraffe, who approved the project.
“It’s a great design. There is a lot of enthusiasm here. This is what I had in mind,” said Braidich, of Poland, who was accompanied by another Marine, Harry Dampf, who served from 1960 to 1964.
Braidich, 92, grew up on Scioto Avenue on Youngstown’s East Side and graduated in 1936 from Scienceville High School. After the war, he worked 43 years for the Youngstown City Health Department, retiring as chief dairy sanitarian,
The metal Braidich Burner weighs 225 pounds. It is 21 inches square and 24 inches high and has an insulated smokestack. It has two wheels and detachable handles and can be moved about like a wheelbarrow.
CMI Industry hopes to market the Braidich Burner, and is in the process of developing a larger version that can be towed on the road, Fontana said.
Dampf said the burner will be stored at the Mahoning Veterans Memorial at the Canfield Fairgrounds. He said he and Braidich plan to attend the next United Veterans Council meeting to work out how other veterans groups can use the burner if they want to.
“This could be the start of something good,” Braidich said.