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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Stitching together a national memorial…

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter takes a stitch on the Idaho patch to the National 9/11 Flag, a flag that was destroyed in the collapse of the World Trade Center and is being restored with patches from each of the 50 states. It was in the Idaho state Capitol on Monday. (Betsy Russell)
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter takes a stitch on the Idaho patch to the National 9/11 Flag, a flag that was destroyed in the collapse of the World Trade Center and is being restored with patches from each of the 50 states. It was in the Idaho state Capitol on Monday. (Betsy Russell)

The National 9/11 Flag is on display in Idaho's state capitol today, where the tattered American flag that was destroyed in the collapse of the World Trade Center 10 years ago is being repaired with a patch from each of the 50 states; today is Idaho's turn.

Here, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter takes a stitch; others who showed up on the second floor of the Capitol rotunda, from young students to wounded warriors, got a chance to do likewise. Idaho's patch for the flag was constructed of fabric from a flag that flew over the Idaho National Guard Joint Force Headquarters; each state's patch is coming from American flags that were bound for retirement. The flag was first stitched back together by tornado survivors in Greensburg, Kansas seven years after the 9/11 attacks. There's more info here.
 



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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