Stitching together American history. Thursday, the national 9/11 flag made a stop in Baltimore to have its final patch sewn on. The flag was found at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks and has become a symbol of resilience and freedom.
Thursday marks the final stop for the 9/11 flag and it’s leaving with a significant piece of American history developed right here in Baltimore.
Veronica Christensen’s hands are no stranger to a needle and thread.
“I resonate with Mary Pickersgill for sewing the flag,” she said.
She’s stitching threads of the original Star-Spangled Banner of 1812 to the national 9/11 flag.
“It’s a dream. It’s absolutely a dream,” Christensen said.
In fact, like Pickersgill – the stitcher of the original Star-Spangled Banner– she’s been quilting all of her life.
“It is the most significant patch that I have worked on next to the Abraham Lincoln patch,” Christensen said.
At the Star-Spangled Flag House, more than 100 people, including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, came to watch the final patch become part of what is a symbol of America’s resilience and freedom.
“I hope that as this flag travels around and it’s been viewed, that people sense the importance, the history that is part of the 9/11 flag,” Rawlings-Blake said.
The flag is part of the New York Says Thank You Foundation. The flag started out in a much smaller version. It was found at Ground Zero, shredded and covered in debris from the collapse of the Twin Towers.
The flag not only holds pieces of American history but also the lives lost on 9/11.
“The ashes from all of those people who were killed at the World Trade Center are residing in these threads of the flag,” Christensen said.
The flag is now a collaboration of tragedy and triumph.
The 9/11 flag will eventually be on display at an exhibit in New York.
