Flag Day
The Troop was asked to support the Flag Day ceremonies at the Freedom Foundation and at the Elks Lodge #714.   Elks, for The Elks used the occasion to honor Chris S. and Andy R. on achieving their Eagle rank last year with plaques and flags.

Here is Chris P.'s write up for the Freedom Foundation::

            As any good scout would know Saturday, June 14th was Flag Day. As in the past the scouts were invited to participate in a Flag Day ceremony at the Freedom’s Foundation in Valley Forge.    In spite of the beautiful weather and the fact that it was a Saturday morning, not many people showed up…. either scouts or spectators, The only scouts from Troop 406 that showed up were Chris, Brian, and dad.  We figured that most of you were either having a great time at Daniel Boone or getting ready for graduation parties.

The event started off with Chris and Brian standing at the entrance to where the ceremony was to be held and handing out flags and programs to all who came to see the ceremony. After that, they were promoted to being a part of the actual ceremony. The program began with a group of marines presenting the colors. Next, the Executive Vice President of the Freedom’s Foundation, Mr. Schulz, gave a brief welcome and then spoke about what the American flag and its symbolism meant to him. Next came the mayor of Phoenixville, Mr. Leo Scodia, who spoke about pretty much the same thing that Mr. Schulz talked about.

After these two speeches, came the best part. This was when our scouts got to hold up Old Glory which is an American Flag that has been all over the world.  We all felt that it was really a big honor to even hold it. We learned that this flag most recently was in Iraq where it flew over one of Sadaam’s palaces. The day after this particular ceremony it was going to be jumped out of a plane by some parachuters at a local high school. While we were holding “Old Glory” a man by the name of Mr. Pawlewicz gave a short history of it. 

Then, while we folded the flag a fief and drum group entertained everyone with some patriotic music. After that a lone marine played Taps on his trumpet (It was pretty nice!…..I actually think it brought a tear to some people’s eyes!). The ceremony ended with Mr. Schulz making some closing remarks and then the marines retiring the colors and then it was all over.

It really was a pretty interesting and meaningful ceremony.