A precious cargo is winging its way across the Pacific–a 12 by 18 foot American flag, salvaged from the rubble of the World Trade Center. It will soon be the battle colors of the aircraft carrier USS JOHN C. STENNIS as she takes her station in the war against terrorism.
On September 15, 2001, Sergeant Karl Hagstrom of the New York City Police Department was engaged in perimeter security at Ground Zero. During his tour of duty he discovered a miraculous find from the debris field near the ruins of the North Tower and building Number 7. A large American flag that had been flying at the complex on September 11th was recovered from beneath the steel, dust and ash. Thousands of Americans whose bodies will never be recovered were cremated in that holocaust. This flag covered and was part of their remains.
Yes, our flag was still there. Torn, dirty, but intact, these cops tenderly uncovered its folds and raised it up from the rubble. Karl immediately recognized its historical significance, and safeguarded it. He contacted his state senators, the governors office, New York museums, even the Smithsonian–perhaps too engaged in the aftermath of September 11th no one responded.
Besides being one of New York’s Finest, Karl has a long-standing love of the sea and ships. He served as a Naval Reservist under my command at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center Fort Schuyler, New York in the early ‘90’s. On free weekends Karl earned a Coast Guard Captain’s license, and moonlighted as a commercial tow operator on the Hudson River. When the terror aircraft hit, his wife Patricia was scheduled to be at a meeting in the Twin Towers. Karl’s blood turned to ice while he held their infant twins until he learned the meeting had been moved and his wife was safe. Karl then sailed an eighteen-foot Boston Whaler twenty miles down the Hudson from Tarrytown to Chelsea Piers to rescue Patricia and a co-worker from 23rd Street in Manhattan. Like the evacuation at Dunkirk, Karl joined other boats in ferrying terrified commuters across the mile wide Hudson to safety in New Jersey.
Karl saw news reports that the Stennis Battle Group was deploying three months early in November 2001 to join in the air strikes against the al Qaeda terror network. His first thought was, they should take this World Trade Center flag into battle. He immediately e-mailed the ship. The ship was already four days out at sea when Karl got a cell phone call from the Stennis’ Navigator, Captain-select Bill Personius. Bill asked Karl to send the flag immediately. He said the whole ship was excited about it.
As a career Naval officer, I am not surprised that the Stennis is thrilled about getting the World Trade Center flag. Love for flag and country is as normal apart of everyday life in the Navy as breathing. We raise the colors at 8 A.M. every morning, playing the National Anthem. We face and salute the flag every time we board ship or go ashore. Every night at sunset solemnly retire the colors. We are given a flag when we retire from the service. An American flag covers our caskets before we are lowered into our graves. I have seen many beautiful sights in more than 30 countries, but nothing has thrilled my heart more than seeing the American flag over an American warship in a foreign land.
John Paul Jones wrote: “The flag and I were twins; born in the same hour from the same womb of destiny. We cannot be parted in life or death. So long as we can float, we shall float together. If we sink, we shall go down as one.” When Jones shifted his command to the captured HMS Serapis and his beloved Bon Homme Richard slipped beneath the waves, every eye was on the “unconquered and unstrucken” American flag. Jones wrote, “As I had given them the good old ship as their sepulcher, I now bequeathed to my immortal dead the flag they had so desperately defended, for their winding sheet.”
When the World Trade Center colors are unfurled onboard USS John C. Stennis, they will embody the spirit of Concord Bridge and Yorktown; of Fort Sumter and Gettysburg; of Pearl Harbor and Midway; of wagon trains crossing westward over the Cumberland Gap and mighty skyscrapers rising above great cities. That red, white and blue banner embodies the spirit of New York, which is the spirit of the Navy, which is the spirit of freedom, which is the spirit of America. God bless our Sailors as they stand into harms way in the cause of freedom. Thanks to a patriotic New York City cop, this flag will serve as a constant reminder to the Stennis’ warriors of the justness of our cause: “‘Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
Mike Giorgino retired as a Commander from the U.S. Navy in 1997, and is a veteran of Operation DesertShield/Storm. He graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law in December 1999, and practices law in San Diego. He is the Republican candidate for the California State Senate, 40th District. He may be contacted at [email protected].
