Last month, just before Macon County schools opened to students for the 2024-25 school year, the Sons of the American Legion (SAL) Americanism committee demonstrated flag folding to kids attending Danny Antoine’s Martial Arts Academy summer camp. Besides education involving the American flag and proper handling and folding techniques, campers were able to participate in a flag folding competition and all campers returned home that day with an American flag.
“Our goal is to ensure that Americanism, commonly called patriotism, is cherished, respected, and taught to our community and the generations that are coming up,” said Dylan Castle, one of the demonstrators as well as an Americanism committee member and SAL’s chaplain. “The U.S. flag presentation highlights the Pledge of Allegiance and its meaning, the origin and story of the U.S. flag, a demonstration of the flag-folding ceremony with a hands-on opportunity, the story of the National Anthem, and a video of the U.S. Army Honor Band playing the National Anthem at Fort McHenry [in Baltimore, Md.].”
“I want to send out a thank you to Sons of American Legion and the Americanism presentation team,” expressed Danny Antoine. “A very special thank you to SAL Commander Richard Litchford, adjutant and member Jack Castle, member of the Americanism presentation team Doreen Castle, and SAL chaplain Dylan Castle. The kids were so excited to learn from the presentation. I feel like the highlight for the kids was learning to fold the American flag and what each fold represented. I pray they get more opportunities throughout our county to do more of these presentations.”
By offering such activities in Macon County, Castle said, “Our SAL Americanism committee hopes to embody the following, ‘No free government nor the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a frequent recurrences to fundamental principles,’ which is a quote by George Mason [a founding father].”