Raising the Flag at Ground Zero
| Company type | Newspaper |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media, Journalism |
| Headquarters | Bergen County, New Jersey , United States |
Raising the Flag at Ground Zero is a photograph captured by Thomas E. Franklin of The Record newspaper on September 11, 2001. The image depicts three New York City firefighters hoisting the American flag at the World Trade Center site following the September 11 attacks. Commonly referred to as Firefighters Raising Flag, this photograph was featured on the front page of The Record on September 12, 2001, and distributed globally via the Associated Press wire service. It is frequently likened to Joe Rosenthal’s iconic World War II image, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.
Photograph
Together with photographer James Nachtwey, Franklin took this photo shortly after 5 p.m., employing a telephoto lens from beneath a pedestrian walkway near the World Financial Center. The three firefighters—George Johnson (Rockaway Beach), Dan McWilliams (Long Island), and Billy Eisengrein (Staten Island)—stood roughly 150 yards away and about 20 feet above ground level. Franklin had arrived at the scene around noon by tugboat after the collapse of the Twin Towers.
Flag
The flag itself was sourced from the yacht Star of America, which was moored at North Cove Marina on the Hudson River. McWilliams removed the yardarm from the vessel and transported the flag to an evacuation zone near a 20-foot pole amid debris from the nearby Marriott World Trade Center hotel.
Following its initial hoisting, the flag disappeared. While city officials believed they had retained it—with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Governor George Pataki signing it and displaying it at venues such as New York City Hall and Yankee Stadium—an attempt by the yacht’s owner to formally donate it revealed discrepancies in size. The flag owned by the city measured 5 by 8 feet, whereas the yacht’s original flag was only 4 by 6 feet.
Shirley Dreifus, who owned the yacht alongside her late husband Spiros E. Kopelakis, spearheaded efforts to locate the true flag. A 2013 CNN documentary titled The Flag explored its disappearance, uncovering evidence that it vanished within hours after being raised.
Ultimately, in 2014, leads uncovered during History Channel’s Brad Meltzer's Lost History series led to recovery of the authentic flag. Scientific verification followed, and it was publicly revealed on September 11, 2016, during a History Channel special named America's 9/11 Flag: Rise From the Ashes.
Later use
Michael Kessel, an attorney based in Manhattan, suggested to U.S. Representative Gary Ackerman that Franklin’s photograph be featured on a postage stamp. The resulting "Heroes 2001" stamp, USA Scott #B2, was officially introduced on March 11, 2002, by President George W. Bush in a ceremony attended by Franklin and firefighters Johnson, Eisengrein, and McWilliams. These semipostal stamps bore a face value of 34¢ but were sold for 45¢; proceeds exceeding postage costs were designated for supporting relief through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This issuance required a special exemption from USPS regulations since commemorative stamps typically honor deceased individuals.
In December 2001, plans were announced by the New York City Fire Department to erect a statue inspired by this photograph at its Brooklyn headquarters. The proposed sculpture aimed to represent black, white, and Hispanic firefighters to emphasize diversity. However, controversy arose over changing the ethnicities of the originally all-white firefighters depicted in the photo, leading to cancellation of the project.
On November 5, 2007, a bronze monument standing 40 feet tall titled To Lift A Nation, portraying three New York firefighters raising the flag over World Trade Center ruins, was dedicated at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Park located in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Alternate perspectives
The renowned photograph by Thomas E. Franklin should not be mistaken for other images of the same moment taken from different vantage points. For instance, Lori Grinker of Contact Press Images documented the entire event in a continuous series, while Ricky Flores from The Journal News captured the scene from the second floor of a nearby building around the same time as Franklin.
See also
External links
- NorthJersey.com Official website of The Record (Bergen County, NJ) newspaper
- Ground Zero Spirit North Jersey Media Group’s 9/11 Disaster Relief Fund, including photographic memorabilia and related stories
- Icons: The Photo Seen 'Round the World Context and background information about the photograph
- Aftermath of the September 11 attacks
- Flags of the United States
- New York City Fire Department
- Photographs from the September 11 attacks
- Postage stamps of the United States
- Rockaway, Queens
- Special events flags
- Works originally published in American newspapers
- World Trade Center
- Flags in art
- Color photographs