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McKees Rocks Vet Wants Tattered Flag Taken Down

MCKEES ROCKS (KDKA) -- A McKees Rocks veteran can't stand the sight of the tattered American Flag near his home.

The flag is flying in front of the abandoned Elks Lodge in McKees Rocks.

Vietnam veteran Tom Wojtasiak said he tried to take down it himself, but the rope wasn't connected to the flag.

"I just thought it was a disgrace to have the flag flying in that condition and nobody wanted to do anything – didn't know who to call about it," he said.

Wojtasiak says he's willing to pay a reasonable price for someone to take it down.

Clark Rogers, acting director of the National Flag Foundation in Uptown, says the American Flag should not be flown when it is dirty or tattered.

There is protocol when a flag is no longer presentable.

"The flag should be taken down respectfully and it should be folded even though it's tattered," he said. "And the Boy Scouts will take it out and have a retirement ceremony where they burn the flag and then bury the ashes."

Meanwhile, Wojtasiak will not look the other way.

"People are still dying – Afghanistan, Iraq," he said. "I mean, somebody has to care."

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