Wall Dumps Hundreds Of American Flags at VFW Post 4374

Michael Schwenk, commander of the Freehold Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4374, arrived at the Waterworks Road post on June 15 – the day after Flag Day -- and couldn’t believe his eyes.

Garbage bags. Everywhere.

Schwenk estimates there were between 65-70 black, lawn-sized garbage bags strewn around the post, blocking entryways and stacked about 4 feet high, he said. In each of those bags were tattered American flags.

“It looked like a pickup truck had just unloaded,’’ Schwenk said. “It was a mess.’’

The VFW, along with the American Legion and other organizations traditionally dispose of used American flags that are worn and no longer appropriate for display. They do so in a specific ceremony in which the flags are burned, respectfully. And they normally do this for free.

But there were hundreds of flags in these bags, Schwenk said.

“I had no idea who had done this,’’ he said.

So he started calling around – the police, the local Boy Scouts, the township offices -- trying to find out where all these flags came from. No one knew.  

Schwenk filed a police report, but went about disposing of the flags anyway – a process he said took about 20 hours over three days.

After two days, he came across something odd: A Wall Township municipal flag was among the dozens of bags of used American flags.

Schwenk called the Wall Township offices.  Sure enough, the hundreds of flags were dropped off at the post by a Department of Public Works employee, township officials said on Friday.

According to Robert Hendrickson, director of the public works department, an employee of his knew a previous commander of that VFW Post, who gave an okay to bring flags there to be disposed of.

“I don’t think they (the VFW post) were aware of the number of flags,’’ he said.

Hendrickson said the township, after complaints from the post, offered to take back the flags. Schwenk said by that time, the post had already disposed of the flags.

“We were going to burn the flags, we just feel like they owe us a donation,’’ Schwenk said.

Mayor Ann Marie Conte on Friday did not say whether a donation was forthcoming from the township.

“We don’t routinely pay for services if they’ve never charged us before,’’ Conte said. “We’ve never engaged in that.’’

At least some of the flags, Hendrickson said, were collected from a box at the entryway of Town Hall where people can bring their tattered flags for a proper disposal.

Hendrickson said the flags, which accumulated over at least several months, were stored in bags in a basement closet until they were brought to the Freehold VFW.

Neither he nor Conte could say exactly where all the flags came from or how long they had been in the basement of town hall.

“From now on, I’m going to take care of them myself,’’ Hendrickson said. “It’s not going to happen again.’’

Hendrickson said he had made arrangements for monthly flag disposal using a piece of equipment borrowed from the Spring Lake Heights Fire Company and he has enlisted the services of two retired military personnel who work for public works.