Crowd Turns Out to Help Stitch 9/11 Flag
The Memorial Gymnasium was packed Thursday morning as hundreds came to sew a stitch on the flag that flew on a building destroyed at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001. The flag is on a nationwide tour and the Prep was the Massachusetts stop.
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The National 9/11 Flag, which will be added to the collection of a memorial museum being built at Ground Zero in New York once it’s fully restored. The larger stars and stripes that make up the majority of the 30 by 20 foot flag are the original pieces that were sown together. The smaller flags filling out the pattern are retired flags from different states on the nationwide tour.
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A large crowd filled the Memorial Gymnasium at St. John’s Prep this morning to honor those victims who died on Sept. 11, 2001 and continue the healing process from that tragic day by helping sew together an American flag that was destroyed across the street from the World Trade Center.
The office building at 90 West St. in New York City was also where one of three victims – all graduates of the Catholic boys’ school – died nearly 10 years ago when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed on the building.
George Ferguson III, Class of 1964, Raymond Metz III, Class of 1982, and Sean Lynch, Class of 1985, all died that day at Ground Zero. Their alma mater was deemed a fitting place for the Massachusetts stop on the tour. Former St. John’s football coach James Trentini and his wife Mary were also among those who lost their lives on Sept. 11.
The process to fully restore the flag began in 2008 and now the 9/11 Flag is on a nationwide tour, stopping at one site in each state to allow local heroes and the public to add a stitch to the flag. The 13 stripes of the flag are now mostly a patchwork of retired flags from around the country donated for the cause.
Mary Ferguson, wife of the late George Ferguson, was instrumental in having her husband’s alma mater selected for Thursday’s ceremony. Starting off the patch, she then helped others add their stitches to the flag.
Once the flag is fully patched up by Sept. 11, 2011, it will be added to the permanent collection of the National September 11 Memorial Museum being built at the World Trade Center in New York.
Stay with Danvers Patch for further coverage from Thursday’s ceremony.
