WWII veteran gets help to retire worn American flag, given new one

ROSWELL, Ga. - A community comes together to help a 90-year-old World War II veteran properly retire his tattered and torn American and Naval flag, and presented him with new ones to fly on a flagpole outside his home.

Local Boy Scouts and Eagle Scouts performed the proper flag ceremony to take down and retire the worn flags belonging to Roswell resident Frank Coleman, who enlisted in the Navy in 1944 during WWII and even served as squadron commander in the Vietnam War.

"It's breathtaking, it really is," Coleman said, grateful for the help given by the community. 

Though a long-time friend even gave Coleman new flags to replace the old ones hanging on a flagpole, the veteran wanted to wait for the proper ceremony to take place.

"I am very much honored," he said, also proud to share he himself was an Eagle Scout in 1942.

"It's a great honor to meet him," said Eagle Scout Link Loeffler. "This is my first time doing [a flag ceremony] for a veteran," he said. 

The Scouts will take the flag and perform a proper ceremony to shred and burn the remnants of the American flag.