Back in mid-August the National 9/11 Flag made a stop in North Dakota as part of the organization’s mission to visit all fifty states. There was a ceremony and even the opportunity for folks to nominate someone in advance for stitching the flag. I made an appeal for folks to nominate Sgt. Steve Kenner with the PD choosing representatives on his behalf. Apparently some of you did, because that’s precisely what happened. I received an email from the organization saying that they received a lot of nominations on his behalf.

Sadly, I had to work and wasn’t able to see the ceremony, but I did get a chance to visit the flag (and put in a stitch of my own) prior to its departure. Here are a few quick photos for those of you who weren’t able to attend.

Patches from the other states who the flag has already visited are marked by standing cards giving a little bit of information about the state’s participation.

Here’s the area where North Dakota’s patch is located and where the stitches were applied.

One stitch at a time, they say. This is actually the top edge of the flag. I believe the patches come from retired flags which have flown in North Dakota.

One patch in particular goes almost unnoticed, but someone from the organization pointed it out to me as “the Lincoln patch.” It’s hard to see from the edge of the flag, but thanks to a 300mm lens, I can give you a closer look:

If I recall correctly, this is a patch from the flag which was draped over the casket of President Abraham Lincoln when he was buried. How’s that for a piece of history?

I suppose it’s somewhat appropriate timing to finally post this on the weekend of the tenth anniversary of that fateful day. It wasn’t my intention, I’m just late as usual. You can find out more about the national 9/11 flag by clicking here. You can read the program from the ceremony in Word format by clicking here (maybe I can convert it to PDF later).