‘Patriot’ flag hoisted in Fort Smith

About 100 gathered during Thursday’s (April 7) noon hour at the Fort Smith National Historic Site to attend a 9-11 memorial service that included the raising of a large “Patriot” flag.

The 75-pound flag that measures 30 feet by 55.5 feet was hoisted by a large Fort Smith Fire Department ladder truck and was held aloft for 55 minutes — the time between when the first World Trade Center building was hit and the time it fell.

Thursday’s ceremony, the first in Arkansas, is part of an effort by the National Parks Service to honor America’s first responders and the victims and families of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

About 3,000 victims and 19 hijackers died in the attacks. Among the 2,752 victims who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center were 343 firefighters and 60 police officers from New York City and the Port Authority. The attack on the Pentagon killed 184 people.

The cross county tour — began by a group of California firefighters — began in San Diego on Aug. 10, 2010. After the “50 states in 50 weeks” tour, the flag will travel to Pennsylvania, New York City, and Washington D.C. on Sept. 11, 2011.

Bill Black, superintendent of the Fort Smith National Historic Site, said the flag will be taken to Shanksville, Pa., where the National Park Service’s newest site commemorates the passengers of Flight 93. There were 40 people on United Flight 93 when it crashed after passengers attempted to wrest control of the plane away from four terrorists. U.S. intelligence officials believe Flight 93 was to crash into the U.S. Capitol.

As of April 4, the flag had been raised in 85 cities in 31 states, traveling 71,220 miles.

Judy Peters, a spokeswoman with the flag tour, said the flag next travels to McAlester, Okla. Locations after that include Plano, Texas, Sallisaw, and the Northwest Arkansas cities of Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale.

Park Service volunteers began Thursday’s the ceremony by firing a Civil War-era cannon in honor of the 9-11 victims and first responders.

Fort Smith Fire Department Chief Mike Richards said during the ceremony that he doubted the firefighters, police officers and other emergency response officials who died during 9-11 would want to be remembered as victims or heroes.

“They would say they were just doing their jobs,” Richards said.