this was my forth year on monroe for flags on the 48 and it seems to get more emotional for me each year.
in 2002 half way up the ammo trail i met gary and susan, a wonderful couple that have joined me each year since, with gary bringing his clarinet to play beautiful, haunting melodies while the flag is up. to hear his notes drifting on the wind across the mountain top is very cool.
for the second year in a row thom d. joined us along with arm t.. they had hiked from 302 up over isolation to meet up with us on monroe. it was great to see them! we also met new folks like reed who was very helpful with the flag pole when the wind picked up and the guylines had issues.
this year a strange thing happened when i went to a store to get a bigger flag. after i had settled on a beautiful valley forge 6×8 american flag i mentioned what i intended to do with it to the women who worked there. she then said “have you seen the Flag of Heros?” She went around a counter and it took a little searching but she came out with a flag that lists all the names of the emergency services workers that gave their lives saving others on 911 on the red stripes of the flag. as she opened the flag the first name i read was that of a NYFD Captian who had attended my high school in NYC and who i had played rugby with. i found the names of all the guys that had graduated from St. Francis Prep and died that day including one that had been in my homeroom class for four years. i will fly this flag each year on mt monroe (a mountain named after one of our founding fathers, as gary pointed out!) as long as i am alive and able to reach the summit, in memory of my fellow SFP alumni, 19 in all, as well as all those that we lost on 911.
i will never forget them.
go
