Boy Scout & Venture Crew member, Timothy Alger of Colonial Beach, VA, to build flag retirement plaza at VFW Post 10574, the William I. Cooper Memorial Post.

Dateline Colonial Beach, VA

By Frank A. Alger, Jr.

People in and around Colonial Beach will soon have a place to properly retire their worn or damaged American flags when a Colonial Beach’s Eagle Scout Service project comes to realization.

Colonial Beach resident, Life Scout Timothy Adam Alger, 17, a King George High School Senior, is planning to construct a flag retirement plaza on the grounds of VFW Post 10574,107 Hawthorne Street, in the Town of Colonial Beach, VA.

"I was looking through the newspaper, and I saw a story about a flag plaza," Alger said. "I thought that would be a really nice project to do here in my home town, but only on a smaller scale."

So Alger, a member of both Boy Scout Troop 258 & Venture Crew 258, in Colonial Beach, VA, decided to develop, design, and build the plaza, which will be known as the Eagle Beach Plaza, as his service project to become an Eagle Scout.

He started designing and developing concepts for the project during his summer break from school. This will be followed up with planning and discussions with VFW officials at the Post, his Scoutmaster, and then his Troop’s committee and the Rivers District Eagle Scout Representative, for project approval. The VFW Post’s members have already showed enthusiasm for the project as it will compliment their own project honoring deceased members of the post.

"When he first introduced it to us, it was something that was never done around here," said the Post President. "We had a spot, and we thought this would fit in well."

Alger will be sending out letters to local businesses, asking for donations of materials.

Alger’s older brother, a Venture Crew Adult Advisor, Eagle Scout Trevor Alger, a landscaper with the Green Acres Nursery of King George, VA, will be supplying expertise for the project as well.

When finished, the retirement plaza will provide a permanent fire pit where local Scout units and community groups may appropriately retire our nation’s flags with a Ceremony of Final Tribute by conducting a patriotic flag burning ceremony as prescribe by the National Flag Foundation.

Alger and his fellow Troop 258 Boy Scouts and members of his Venture Crew 258 also hope to increase citizen's awareness of the history of the flag and its proper use.

Alger plans to contact other veterans groups, such as the American Legion, to let them know that the plaza will be available. He is also hoping to place some boxes in key points in the community, as a future Venture Crew 258 project, where people may drop off flags for disposal.

"We want to make it open for the community," Alger said. "Our troop and Crew is going to open it once we get through with an official ceremony dedicating it to the VFW Post and the Men & Women of our Armed Forces, Past, Present, and Future. We are already starting to collect flags."

It is our hope that the Plaza will facilitate the retirement of our nation’s emblem with the respect and dignity it deserves. It also allows us to lead by example and teach our youth the importance of respecting this symbol of our security and freedom.

Once the project is finished and ready for use and you wish to have an American Flag retired at the Flag Retirement Plaza during a flag retirement ceremony, please contact the VFW Post at 804-224-9510 or Troop 258’s Scoutmaster at 804-224-2093.