If you have a worn American flag folded away in a closet, a garage or a drawer — one that has faded, frayed or simply served its time — Tuesday is your chance to give it the respectful farewell it deserves. Bring it to the University of Toledo on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 5 p.m., when student veterans will retire it with honor on the steps of Thompson Student Union.

The University of Toledo’s chapter of Student Veterans of America will conduct its annual Flag Retirement Ceremony at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, on the steps of Thompson Student Union. The event honors and properly retires American flags that have become worn and unserviceable through years of faithful service.

The ceremony is free and open to the public, and community members are welcome to bring worn flags of their own to be retired. If you have been unsure what to do with a flag that can no longer fly, this is a simple, meaningful answer: bring it Tuesday, and let it be retired the right way, in the company of neighbors, students and veterans.

This year’s ceremony will be held in conjunction with Cub Scout Pack 210, part of the Erie Shores Council, which helped prepare the flags in advance and will assist with the ceremony. It is a fitting partnership for Veterans Day week — young Scouts learning, hands-on, what the flag stands for, alongside the student veterans who have lived that service.

“This event provides an opportunity for our military-connected students to teach young scouts about the importance of the American flag and the values it represents,” said Kyle Jakob, coordinator of the Toledo Military Service Center and adviser to Student Veterans of America.

That teaching moment is at the heart of the evening. A flag retirement is not a disposal. It is a quiet, deliberate act of respect — a way to say thank you to a flag that has flown over homes, schools, ballfields and front porches, and to the people it represents.

The ceremony comes during a week of remembrance and gratitude on campus. UToledo will also host its annual Veterans Day breakfast on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at Savage Arena — read more in our earlier story, UToledo Veterans Day Breakfast Wednesday at Savage Arena. Together, the two events offer Toledoans a chance to show up for the people who showed up for all of us.

So check the closet, the garage and that drawer. If a flag there is worn and unserviceable, bring it to the Thompson Student Union steps at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10. The ceremony is free, it is open to everyone, and your flag will be given the honorable retirement it earned.

Source: UToledo News, published Nov. 9, 2026.

Photo: File photo of a flag-retirement ceremony (not the UToledo event). Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Casey Scarpulla, public domain.