The iconic flag is now at the 9/11 Memorial Museum, ready for this weekend’s commemoration ceremonies. It occupies a prominent spot, by itself on the museum’s top floor, befitting its role as an important icon of American history, said Joe Daniels, president of the 9/11 Memorial, which plans to host an event Sunday to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the attacks.
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“The raising of this American flag was a powerful symbol of hope, strength, and resilience at one of the most trying moments in our nation’s history”, said Greenberg.
The flag was taken by New York City firefighters from a nearby yacht docked at the World Financial Center, who then flew the flag over the rubble that fateful day.
“We approached this as we would any found property case, but took extra precautions to ensure that the flag remained protected and secured during our investigation”.
The flag was sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab for forensic analysis, to confirm that it was from ground zero.
A man who only identified himself as a retired Marine named “Brian” turned it over to a local fire station in November 2014.
“We wanted to be thorough and complete and be able to have the investigation stand independently”, said Everett Detective Jim Massingale, a retired Army Ranger.
The mystery of what happened to the ground zero flag was the subject of a 2013 CNN film “The Flag”. That plus an examination of the lanyard, which was made from two ropes taped together, confirmed the flag was authentic.
As Chubb had paid the claim, it was the legal owner of the flag and the company, with the help of the original owner, donated it to the museum set up to honour the victims of the attack. “We then began working with our contacts in NY to develop a plan to return and preserve the flag”.
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The whereabouts of the original was unknown until two years ago, when a mystery man handed it into a fire station in Everett, Washington State almost 3,000 miles away from NY.
