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| Americans United... |
November 06, 2001 |
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Americans United: Flag Across America is a demonstration of American resolve. In support of victims` families, employees of American Airlines, United Airlines, and Military Service Members, Federal employees, and thousands of volunteers throughout the country are carrying a United States flag across the United States.
Note from Congresswoman Wilson
I want to thank New Mexicans who have waited patiently to receive U.S. flags purchased through my Washington office. The Congressional office supply store has more than 14,000 flags on back-order. Each flag is in line to be flown over the Capitol. I can assure you that we`ll process your order as quickly as possible. |
This flag was flown over Iraq in the cockpit of a U.S. F-16 in support of Operation Southern Watch on October 2, 2001.
The flag left Boston on October 11, 2001 with a goal to arrive in Los Angeles on Veteran`s Day, November 11, 2001. These cities represent the origination and destination of American Flight 11 and United Flight 175. The flag came through New Mexico this weekend, and Congresswoman Wilson joined hundreds of New Mexicans to help move the flag, accompanied by the familiar Zia symbol of our own flag, through our state.
Remarks by Congresswoman Heather Wilson
Americans United: Flag Across America
Civic Plaza
Saturday, November 03, 2001
Albuquerque, New Mexico
 
It`s an honor to be here tonight with all of you and with the family of Al Marchand.
Becky, your belief in God and in our country has given strength to all of us.
This journey across America is special for the employees and families and friends of American Airlines and United. It`s a journey completed, an act of faith, of courage, and of remembrance.
But this event is important to the rest of us as Americans too. Why is that so?
"This is the flag that hangs in every classroom, of every school, where every day American children pledge their allegiance."
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What is it about this flag -- this piece of red and white and blue cloth -- that has touched us all?
This is the flag that was sewn by prisoners of war of blankets and rags in the camps after they survived Bataan.
This is the flag that flew behind a stone wall on a rise at Gettysburg and crossed the beach at Normandy.
This is the flag that flickers in the breeze above the sunken hulk of the Arizona at Pearl Harbor.
This is the flag that stands in the dusty corner of adobe churches along the Rio Grande.
This is the flag that adorns the lapels of proud new citizens and drapes the caskets of loved ones lost.
This is the flag that hangs in every classroom, of every school, where every day American children pledge their allegiance.
There is a tradition that every young American who joins the military learns: the colors never touch the ground. And if the man carrying the flag falls, another will take them up until there are none left.
This flag has been carried by every faith and every race of Americans. By rich and poor. By university professors and by men who could not spell a word. By the sons of Presidents and sons who did not know their father`s names.
We pledge to it our lives, our allegiance, and our honor. It unites us to each other and to our common history as Americans.
Tonight, we pass it from hand to hand across New Mexico in the darkness toward the dawn. We will not falter and it will not touch the ground.
May God bless you on your journey and may God bless the United States of America. |
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