Civil Air Patrol’s 399th Composite Squadron will collect American Flags no longer fit for service so they can be formally retired in an approved ceremony, conducted by United States Veterans, on Flag Day.

Public Affairs Officer Major Peter Milano says the collection is Saturday from 9am to 4pm, at the Stop & Shop on Lake Avenue Ext. in Danbury.  The service is free of charge. 

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 60,000 members nationwide.  In its Air Force auxiliary role, the Civil Air Patrol performs about 85 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.  They are credited with saving an average of 70 lives annually.

Its unpaid professionals also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 25,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet programs.