KINGWOOD — Preston County Middle School hosted a retirement of more than 400 flags recently.
The event was attended by 300 students and 30 school employees, along with members of the Preston County Honor Guard, who provided a 21-gun volley.
“We’re very proud to be the first school in the county to have a flag retirement,” PCMS Principal Paul Martin said. “I would like to thank Kingwood Veterans Post and Auxiliary 826 for thinking of us to host the event.”
Carol Dixon, president of the Post 826 auxiliary, said she would like to hold flag retirements at other county schools.
“This is the first time we’ve involved youth in a flag retirement. I would like to get more schools involved so students understand more about how and why flags are retired. People don’t respect the flag as they once did. We enjoy kids and getting them involved in all we can.”
Dixon said she wanted to thank everyone who helped with the project, including Mark LaPonte who read the flag retirement speech and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
“I want to thank everyone involved,” she said. “People cut out stars from the flags that were being retired so each student can have one to take home with them.”
