EMMETT, Idaho — A couple dozen locals filled Roy A. Bowman Family Memorial Park in honor of the Emmett Police Honor Guard's Flag Day ceremony to retire and replace the city's American flag.
Emmett Police passed off the old flag - donning tattered seams and a damaged corner worn by weather and time - to the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Sons of the American Revolution provided the city with a new Old Glory to fly above the park.
"It goes back to respect for our country, respect for our flag, respect for our elders. And then, hopefully, the younger generation will see the respect we have and continue on," Emmett Police Team Leader Brent Leatherman said.
The ceremony was the Emmett Police Honor Guard's first event, according to Leatherman. President Woodrow Wilson officially established Flag Day as a national holiday in 1916 to honor and respect the history and symbolism of the American flag.
Emmett residents felt a variety of feelings under the banner of the city's new stars and stripes.
"Yeah, well if I [look at it] too long, I almost come to tears. It's just the meaning of it. It just sinks in after - after you realize it," Ray Willis said. "Kind of cliché, you know, the meaning of the freedom, the opportunities and being a veteran, it's still there."
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