Holyoke Fire Department Honors Ground Zero Flag

Today the Holyoke Fire Department was given the immense honor of hosting a ground zero flag on its journey for the New England Run for the Fallen. The flag, along with a small cross constructed out of marble retrieved from the rubble, arrived at HFD Headquarters this morning for our local firefighters to pay their respects, as well as sign a log book which travels from place to place with these precious artifacts.

Following the attack on 9/11, The Ground Zero Flag was raised between the North and South Towers, remaining there until November 2nd, 2001. Since then, the flag has travelled across the country, as well as throughout the world, having been carried on multiple missions overseas. After the flag has made its rounds traveling with the New England Run for the Fallen, it will go on to Pennsylvania and then Colorado. Retired HFD member, Jordan Lemieux, has been charged with caring for the flag on its journey through Holyoke. Lemieux discussed the flags role in the New England Run for the Fallen, stating “It will be carried each mile by different runners, and each mile there’s a fallen veterans family or somebody. There will be a marker, we’ll do a little ceremony there with the flag, then it will continue on” over 3 days, 134 miles, from Massachusetts to Vermont, and then New Hampshire to Maine, ending at Fort Carson.

In the next four years, the flag will be officially retired and laid to rest at the National September 11 Memorial Museum, where the public can continue to honor it.