National 9/11 Flag helps memorialize those lost 10 years ago and in May.
M
issouri Southern President Bruce Speck summed up the feelings of everyone in the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center as he opened the 9/11 memorial service. “For those who do not understand the power of freedom and the goodness of this country, let them come to Joplin,” he said. “Let them see the outpouring of support from around the world… That is the spirit of America, and it is alive and well today.” The event started the morning of September 11 at Cunningham Park as the National 9/11 Flag was presented and held for a moment of silence honoring those who died in the Twin Towers attacks 10 years ago in New York City. Members of the armed forces, police, firefighters, EMS personnel and tornado survivors took shifts holding the flag outstretched over 26th Street, with the destroyed St. John’s Regional Medical Center in the background. Dolores Hutcheson, a sergeant with the Mena, Arkansas, police department, attended the service, where she was brought to tears. She came with a message for Joplin. “I hope that we can convey to the people of Joplin that it’s going be all right,” she said. “It’s not going to be today, it’s not going to be tomorrow, but at some point down the road you can come back and everything’s going to be all right.” Mena was devastated by a tornado two years ago, killing three and injuring 30. She said Mena has nearly recovered, and Joplin will too. The flag served as a backdrop for speeches delivered in Leggett & Platt Athletic Center, where individuals lined up afterward to take a stitch and restore the flag. “There is something poetically right and fitting that this flag should complete its restoration a decade later in a city
A volunteer with the New York Says Thank You Foundation helps Brooklyn Jusino, 6, take a stitch to help restore the National 9/11 Flag on September 11, 2011, as her mother, Shiela Immesote, MSSU Food Service Support, looks on. Immesote and her daughter were in the 15th Street Walmart when it was severely damaged by the May 22 tornado in Joplin, Missouri. The flag made its final stop in Joplin before becoming a part of the permanent collection at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York. — Photo by Mike Gullett 25 crossroads / fall 2011
