# US Flag of 9-11 Missing??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2003, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194 "2003-01-22T12:49:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194/1 "2003-01-22T12:49:12Z")
I heard the famous US flag raised by firemen at the WTC on 9-11 is missing. Apparently, it was on tour (for whatever reason) and the Navy, IIRC, had it last. However, upon return to either NYC or the FD of NYC, officials recognized it is NOT the same flag becuase the dimensions don’t match, IIRC. Did anyone else hear about this? Anyone have more details on this? And, why would a flag tour? Perhaps, I WAG, it was to serve as a travelling memorial? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194/2 "2003-01-22T14:33:01Z")
Yes, it’s missing. [http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/05/missing.flag/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/05/missing.flag/index.html) > [@](#): > > Flag raised over WTC wreckage missing > September 5, 2002 Posted: 8:35 PM EDT (0035 GMT) > > NEW YORK (CNN) – A flag that has been displayed – and even autographed by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others – as the one shown in the famous photograph of firefighters amid the ruins of the World Trade Center is an impostor, city officials said Thursday. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194/3 "2003-01-22T14:59:36Z")
More from my memory only; The flag was “borrowed” from the original owner. I heard that it was taken by the firefighters with permission from the nearby marina. Possibly masted on a boat or on the dock somewhere. After it`s tour of duty, they were returning it to the original owner and that`s when the owner told whoever was returning it that it was not the same flag. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194/4 "2003-01-22T15:03:28Z")
DDG - I should have read your link.:smack: It gives all the details. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194/5 "2003-01-22T15:30:14Z")
DDG I don’t think you can assume that the article is correct. There is some possibility that the flag was taken from Stuyvesant High School, which served as a triage center and was located about 4 blocks north of the WTC. I’m not sure why Kopelakis is so very sure it was their flag raised over the WTC. They seem to think that the wrong size indicates that this wasn’t flag flown over the WTC. Perhaps it indicates instead that their flag wasn’t flown? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194/6 "2003-01-23T00:15:37Z")
Sorry, I don’t see your point. How is the [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) article incorrect? Is the 9/11 flag not missing? If it isn’t missing, then where is it? If [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) is wrong, then so is AP… [http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWSSept11/sep5\_flag-ap.html](http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWSSept11/sep5_flag-ap.html) > [@](#): > > Thursday, September 5, 2002 > Flag raised over WTC missing > > HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) – The American flag that was raised by three firefighters over the wreckage of the World Trade Center, one of the most enduring images of Sept. 11, has disappeared… …and so is Knight-Ridder, and the New York _Times_. [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/nation/9-11/stories/090502dnnatflag.b91a2.html](http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/nation/9-11/stories/090502dnnatflag.b91a2.html) > [@](#): > > Sept. 11 icon is missing in action > Someone swapped WTC Old Glory with impostor banner > > 09/05/2002 > > The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record > > HACKENSACK, N.J. – The three firefighters who raised an American flag in the rubble of the World Trade Center have been immortalized. The photograph that captured their spontaneous action has been reproduced countless times. > > But the flag they hoisted that day has disappeared, lost somewhere in the chaos of history. > > \< snip \> > > Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. The New York Times contributed to this report. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194/7 "2003-01-23T00:56:06Z")
Stuy has a flag? ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194/8 "2003-01-23T06:37:10Z")
I heard about this awhile ago. Some guys on sports talk radio were wondering how this flag could be in so many places (Afgahnistan, the World Series, etc.), seemingly at once. ---
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194/9 "2003-01-23T13:34:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElwoodCuse \* > \*\*I heard about this awhile ago. Some guys on sports talk radio were wondering how this flag could be in so many places (Afgahnistan, the World Series, etc.), seemingly at once. \*\* Well, I know of at least two WTC flags. The one that the firefighters raised was taken from a boat at the marina. The tattered (and much larger one) was apparently found at the WTC site. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-flag-of-9-11-missing/150194/10 "2003-01-23T15:02:36Z")
[b[sleeping\*\* Stuy _had_ a flag, which lived in the auditorium and notably had both wings broken off the eagle on top. It came with the school from the old building. Quite a few people were sentimentally attached to it. It went missing during the time the school was used as a triage center post-9/11. Have you read “With Their Eyes” the eyewitness accounts of 9/11 by Stuyvesant’s faculty and staff. Someone in that book has reason to believe it was Stuy’s flag that was raised. **DDG** , I was just commenting that these people believe quite firmly that their flag was flown (and is thus missing). Perhaps their flag was not flown, and the (smaller) one presented to them was. If this is the case, the flag flown over the WTC is not “missing.”