For Veterans Day, a fire for flags

American flags, once vibrant and proud, now tattered and faded, were brought to a respectful closure Monday at the Grafton VFW.

“I know this is how it’s done, but I just can’t bear to see them on fire,” a woman murmured as the flags met their end in a ceremonial Veterans Day fire.

There were giant flags, flown from poles, their stripes torn apart by the force of wind. Smaller flags that had once rippled from trucks. Tiny flags, the former sentinels of soldiers’ graves, went in sticks and all.

Both VFW Post 1497 and American Legion Post 92 maintain drop-off year-round boxes for flags that have seen their final days.