They sat under a blazing hot Fourth of July sun, about 30 of them, thankful for country, flag and the liberty for which it stands.

Some were war veterans; some, military; some, just proud countrymen and women who simply wanted to do right by Old Glory.

Ed Carmine had seen her desecrated more times than he cared to remember and he had had enough. Now for the second time in as many years, the military veteran was holding a flag retirement ceremony in the parking lot of the Atlanta Northlake Elks Lodge 78 in Tucker.

"Too many people fought and died, too many are still missing because of that flag," said Carmine, 56, a 16-year Navy veteran from Tucker who served in the Vietnam War. "By doing this, I can add just a little bit more dignity to our flag and our country."

Instead of burning her in protest, Carmine and the others had come to burn flags in a solemn ceremony – the proper way, according to the United States Flag Code, to dispose of flags no longer suited for duty.

And so with recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance and the history of the Stars and Stripes, with the singing of "God Bless America" and "The Star Spangled Banner," and with prayer and supplication, metro Atlanta citizens observed America's birthday Friday and honored her flag.

"Brother Ed, I present these unserviceable flags for your inspection," fellow lodge member Cecil Singer said to Carmine when the last words of the national anthem were sung.

"Is the condition of these flags the result of their faithful service as the emblem of our country?" Carmine asked.

"Brother Ed, these flags have become faded and worn over the graves of our dead soldiers, sailors and airmen of all our nation's wars."

"Have any of these flags served any other purpose?"

"Some of these flags have been displayed in various public places."

And with that, the flags were presented for final inspection.

Lodge Chaplain Jimmie Minor stepped to the podium.

"Almighty God ... to a clean and purging flame, we commit these flags, worn out in worthy service," Minor prayed. "As they yield their substance to the fire, may your holy light spread over us and bring our hearts renewed devotion to God and country."

As "Taps" played, the lodge color guard retired the colors.

Friday's ritual began in Carmine's mind early last year when he saw an Iraqi citizen burn the American flag on the Internet.

"We were fighting to liberate those people, and they were burning the American flag," he said, still visibly shaken by the notion. "That was the moment the idea [for the ceremony] hit me."

Carmine said many citizens know there is a right way to dispose of the flag; they just don't know what it is.

July 4 is one of four days set aside for burning worn and faded flags, he said. The other days are Memorial Day, Flag Day and Veterans Day.

At Friday's ceremony, Tom Long, an Army veteran from Tucker, said he replaces the flag flown at his home every year on Flag Day and brought last year's flag to be burned.

Kathy Rust of Stone Mountain retired a flag that had been given to her as a gift in 1987 by her son's Cub Scout troop.

Beth Denney came to share the moment with her parents, Marge and Bob Froelich of Decatur. Bob Froelich is an 83-year-old World War II veteran.

Deborah Reddy of Douglasville added five flags to the flames. Reddy, 59, said her son, James D. Tyler, served in Kuwait and twice in Iraq, and her father, William D. Newell, was a World War II veteran.

"I couldn't bear to throw them away," Reddy said of her flags. "I came here because I wanted to dispose of them properly and with respect."