New Jersey Man Spends Past Two Decades Burning American Flags Out Of Respect

PRINCETON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Burning American flags is often associated with protest and utter disrespect for our country, but flag etiquette says burning one is the only proper way to dispose of Old Glory.

One New Jersey man has made it his mission to get that word out, and he does it with a ceremony every year on Flag Day.

As CBS2's Elise Finch explained, June 14 commemorates the day back in 1777 when Congress adopted the stars and stripes as the flag of the United States.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14, Flag Day, and in 1996, Ray Wadsworth - a volunteer firefighter - started using Flag Day to show people how faded, damaged, or torn American flags should be disposed of.

"I didn't like the way that people were throwing the flags in the garbage and taking them to the dump. That's not the American way. I always thought it was a disgrace to do this," Wadsworth said.

Through his non-profit company Wadsworth collects flags all year long. Most are placed in a bin at his old fire house.

Then, every year on Flag Day, he leads a ceremony outside the Princeton Municipal Complex.

A firefighter ignites a large flag with a flare, then Old Glory goes up in flames burning hundreds of smaller flags in a metal barrel.

A group of 4th graders from Community Park Elementary School said they were mesmerized by what they saw.

"At first I thought that was disrespectful to the country, but now it's kind of different," Jesse Dulkin said.

"Actually, if you bun it and you bury it, it's actually respectful for the flag," Ingrid Lazo said.

Even though burning is the correct way to retire a flag, firefighters say it's not something people should do at home.

"It's not safe to do in your backyard. There are organizations such as the Boy Scouts, the VFW, that will take the flags and they'll retire them properly with the safety of room to burn and the proper procedures and permits to do it," Princeton Fire Supervisor, Ryan Buckley said.

Wadsworth said the final step is to bury the ashes which he'll do later this week. He said when he started he used to collect about 300 flags a year, this year he collected more than 1,300.

He'll be burning most of the flags at a fire department training facility later this week.