The Flag in Your Closet Finally Has Somewhere to Go, and a 17-Year-Old Built It
There is a particular kind of household problem that has no obvious solution: the folded American flag in the closet that has gone thin at the edges, or faded, or torn, and that nobody in the house is willing to simply put in the trash. People hold on to those flags for years, precisely because throwing one away feels wrong and no one is quite sure what the right alternative is.
Mt. Juliet now has an answer, and a 17-year-old built it.
Ethan Ollis, a recent graduate of Mt. Juliet High School, spent his Eagle Scout service project constructing a navy blue drop box for worn American flags and installing it outside the Mt. Juliet Community Center at Charlie Daniels Park. It was dedicated this month. The box is waterproof, with a slot sized for a folded flag, and it is available to anyone in the community with a flag that has reached the end of its service.
Why a teenager chose this project
Ollis has said the idea came from noticing that the community had no central place to take a flag for retirement — and from his own family. His father is a Marine veteran, and so is his Scout troop leader. Growing up around that, he described the project less as an assignment than as an obligation he felt he owed.
Every Eagle Scout candidate has to plan and lead a service project that benefits the community, and the requirement is as much about organization as construction: finding the need, securing the permissions, recruiting the help, and — crucially — making sure the thing still works after the Scout has moved on.
That last part is where this project is smarter than it first appears. A box that fills up and is never emptied would be worse than no box at all. Ollis arranged for the ROTC program at Mt. Juliet High School to handle regular pickups and to see that the flags are retired respectfully, following guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The students who take over the collection are, in other words, still at the school he just left.
What the law actually says
The instinct that a worn flag deserves better than a garbage bin is not just sentiment — it is written into federal law. The United States Flag Code states that when a flag is in a condition where it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, it should be destroyed in a dignified manner, with burning named as the preferred method. The code sets the standard but assigns no one in particular to carry it out, which is why the work has traditionally fallen to veterans' organizations, civic groups and Scout troops.
It is also why a plain metal box outside a community center matters more than its size suggests. The gap has never been the willingness. It has been the logistics.
That gap closed almost immediately. At the dedication, a Gladeville couple, Mark and Rhonda Gunselman, came and placed their own folded flags into the box, saying they had been looking for an appropriate way to part with them. They were, in effect, the proof of the project's premise: the demand had been sitting in people's closets the whole time, waiting for somewhere to go.
The box sits at a park that already anchors much of the city's outdoor life, from charity tournaments on the courts to everyday use of the trails and playgrounds. For a full look at the system it belongs to, see our guide to the best parks in Mt. Juliet.
