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The Arizona Diamondbacks wanted it, but Fayetteville’s Veterans Day Parade is getting it: the largest POW/MIA flag in the world.
"It’s the only one of its kind," said Tom Stanley, president of Rolling Thunder and the junior vice president for Cumberland County’s Veterans Council. "You won’t be able to miss it."
The 98-pound national Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag will fly over the parade in downtown Fayetteville on Nov. 10. The parade begins at 11 a.m.
The flag is a traveling tribute to honor the nation’s combat veterans and to bring awareness to POW and MIA issues.
The black flag depicts the POW/MIA emblem, a silhouette profile of an American serviceman behind barbed wire and the words: "You are not forgotten."
The Arizona Diamondbacks had requested the flag for the World Series, but Fayetteville made its request first.
"It’s a real honor for us to get it at this time for Veterans Day," said Stanley, who put in the request.
Available for groups
The flag will be in town Monday through Nov. 11 and is available to veterans’ groups and high school junior ROTC programs interested in displaying it.
Groups just need to make sure they have a lot of display space.
The $3,300 flag is 60 feet by 30 feet -- large enough to cover a house.
Groups can drape the flag on a wall or place it on a flat surface, such as gym floor. Or 30 people can hold it.
During the parade the flag will be hoisted from a 30-ton crane with a 120-foot arm and displayed in a parking lot near Hay and Winslow streets.
Fayetteville will be one of many stops for the flag.
The goal is to fly the flag for a week in each state and then retire it to the Massachusetts Commonwealth Museum in Boston.
The tour should be completed by Memorial Day 2003.
The flag was made in April and paid for through donations to Rolling Thunder Inc., a nonprofit group that brings public awareness to POW and MIA issues.
The flag made its debut on Memorial Day near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Since then it has been displayed in Massachusetts and Kentucky.
The flag is shipped in a canvas bag, but organizers want to buy a truck to take the flag from state to state.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, people view the POW/MIA flag in a new way, Stanley said.
"I think for the average American, it would have more meaning," he said.
Groups interested in displaying the flag should call Tom Stanley at 630-2339.
Staff writer Tanya Biank can be reached at (910) 323-4848, extension 370, or biankt@fayettevillenc.com
SOURCE: Fayetteville Observer - 9 November 2001 - News Section
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