Wayland Police Department
Press Release
May 6, 2009

On May 5th, 2009, members of Wayland Cub Scout Pack # 1, Den # 4 presented a “flag box” to Wayland Police Chief Robert Irving to be used by the department to collect old and worn United States flags from Wayland residents.  The box will be permanently placed in the lobby of the Wayland Public Safety Building and any resident may drop off U.S. flags that have outlived their usefulness for proper disposal.

Each year the old flags will be turned over to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Daughters of the American Revolution, who will conduct a ceremony for the proper disposal of the flags.

The Cub Scouts worked on this civic project for more than six months and constructed a wooden box that is decorated with Cub Scout insignia, and will have photos of the dedication placed in a frame attached to the box.  The boys all agreed to meet again in the lobby of the Public Safety Building for a second group photo upon their graduation from High School in the year 2017.

Attending the ceremony, in addition to Chief Irving, the Scout leaders and parents, were three local veterans; John Turchinetz, the town’s Veteran’s Agent and a U. S. Navy veteran of World War II, Jim Berkeley, the chairman of the Veterans Memorial Committee and a U.S. Air Force veteran, and Richard Turner a Navy veteran from the Viet Nam War and recipient of a “Purple Heart” medal.  These men and the Cub Scouts placed the first flags in the box that will be turned over to the veterans group in the fall to be officially retired.