The “Freedom Flag” has been flown in more than 2,500 schools, fire departments, and other locations across the country.
Now a group of Tyrone Area High School students and social studies teacher John Coltabaugh are leading an effort to fly the symbolic flag on the Tyrone Area School District campus.
The Freedom Flag memorializes the innocent victims who lost their lives on the four hijacked flights and on the ground in New York and Washington, DC, on September 11, 2001.
“As we continue moving away from the events of 9/11, it is important that as members of the Tyrone community and citizens of the United States that we reflect on the lives lost on 9/11 and how the travesty has helped shape our future,” Coltabaugh said.
Coltabaugh said that he first got involved with the organization five years ago when he taught at Bald Eagle Area High School and is now working with his students to bring the flag to Tyrone.
Coltabaugh already has a flag, but he and his students are raising money to install a museum-grade lighted showcase to house the flag.
Tyrone High School students Marshall George, Jamis Maceno, Emily Christofer, Jenna Watson, Piper Sparkling, Ethan Shaw, and Vincent Maloney are leading the student effort.
Sparkling and Watson presented their plan to the TASD school board in October.
The Freedom Flag Foundation was established by Richard N. Melito, a restaurant owner from Virginia, who designed the flag himself on a paper towel.
There are 10 symbolic elements to the flag. The two broad red stripes in the middle represent the Twin Towers and the lives lost in the World Trade Center, American Airlines Flight 11, and United Flight 175. The top red stripe represents those who perished at the Pentagon and on American Airlines Flight 77. The bottom red stripe is for the 40 lives lost on United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.
In 2003, the Freedom Flag was recognized by Virginia Governor Mark Warner as the state’s symbol of remembrance.
According to Coltabaugh, Tyrone’s Freedom Flag will be displayed in a temporary home in the showcase next to the library this spring until the money can be raised for a permanent home.
On the 11th of each month and from September 11 to the 30th of each year, the flag will be taken from its case and flown under the American flag in front of the Tyrone Area Middle and High School.
Tyrone High School Principal Chad Packer supports the project and hopes it will inspire Tyrone students to learn more about 9/11.
“It has been over 20 years since the 9/11 attacks, which means students have no memories of the tragic events and heroic responses related to that fateful day. The 10 symbolic elements of the Freedom Flag will be an effective teaching tool in classrooms to help the current generation of students learn about the complicated sequence of events that took place on 9/11/2001,” Packer said.
