Lecanto High School’s ARMY ROTC students and AMVET (American Veterans )POST 89 worked
Saturday morning to respectfully retire over 750 American Flags.

750 American Flags Retired with Respect.

The flags collected by the AMVET POST at their collection sites at Lecanto Government offices, the AMVET POST’S home at 1 Civic Circle in Beverly Hills and St Timothy Lutheran Church were faded or torn by the rages of wind.

The Panther Battalion cadets began the morning by unfolding and then raising a large American
Flag followed by a detailed history of the American Flag by cadet Antonio Garrido based on
information obtained by their Instructor Dean Kelly from the U S Embassy in Stockholm,
Sweden.

The ROTC Cadets in their sharp blue uniforms carefully removed the flag’s blue field of stars
which represents the union of the state’s first and then cut up the length of each stripe from all
750 plus flags. In the process they found nine flags that were still serviceable. The cadets then
proceeded stripe by stripe to place them into the two burn barrels which had been donated by
Crystal River Recycling. As the first set of stripes were carried to the burn barrels by the cadets
they announced which state it represented in the order of those state’s joining the union. This
was then followed by the blue field with stars which represent the union as a whole.

AMVET POST Commander Lou Ann Braglin complimented the ROTC Cadets on both their
respect for the flags and presented Cadet Commander Lt Colonel Julian Arceo with a $250.00
check on behalf of the AMVET POST. The Panther battalion has over 100 cadets with at least 49
female cadets.

Instructor Sgt Dean Kelly stated the ROTC program is an elective course for life and leadership
skills not simply designed to prepare the cadets for entering the military. Our program focus is
on participation in local events, drill teams, color guards, marksmanship, archery, physical
events and robotics field. The Lecanto Battalion competes at regional and state levels of the
ARMY ROTC program.

The flag retirement was held in the high school parking lot and open for public viewing.
AMVETS 2nd Vice Commander Floyd Blodgett stated the flag retirement is held at least once a
year and is probably the best flag retirement he has ever seen. Our Citrus County community
should be proud of the way these ROTC Cadets conduct themselves.