July 19, 2011

2:43 PM

On July 20, 2011, The National 9/11 Flag - which survived the fall of the World Trade Center towers - will make its way to Oregon where firefighters from New York, Portland, Gresham and Clackamas will take part in an historic stitching ceremony to help sew the Oregon restorative patch onto The National 9/11 Flag at the US Bancorp Tower. 

The ceremony will take place at 111 SW 5th Avenue in Portland at 10:00 am and is open to the public.  Portland Fire's Honor Guard will open the ceremony and Portland firefighters will perform a watch over the flag from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Destroyed in the aftermath of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and stitched back together seven years later by tornado survivors in Greensburg, Kansas, The National 9/11 Flag is a living testament to the resilience and compassion of the American people.

The 20-foot by 50-foot flag was flying at 90 West St. in New York City, near the south tower of the World Trade Center, on Sept. 11, 2001. It was taken down in tatters days later, kept in storage for seven years, and is now on a nationwide stitching tour to restore it.

Local service heroes in all 50 states have had the privilege of stitching the flag back to its original 13-stripe format using pieces of fabric from American flags destined for retirement in each state. Once the flag is restored and made whole again by the 10th Year Anniversary of 9/11, The National 9/11 Flag will become a part of the permanent collection of the National September 11 Memorial Museum being built at the World Trade Center.

The fabric of our American history is quite literally being stitched into The National 9/11 Flag.  The flag has flown at the funeral of Christina Taylor Green, the 9-year-old girl born on 9/11 who died in the recent Tucson shooting, been stitched by descendants of Martin Luther King Jr., made history when a piece of the American flag that cradled Abraham Lincoln's head when he was shot at Ford's Theater was stitched into the flag, and brought together wounded warriors, first responders, and members of our Nation's space program to contribute a stitch at The Kennedy Space Center.

 Portland Fire & Rescue

 We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

 July 19, 2011

 

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