The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
79°F
Current Conditions
Clear sky
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Man who returned 9/11 flag from ground zero identified

Brian Browne, 45, stands in front of one of the many flags he collects at his home on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016, in Everett. Browne, who turned in an American flag raised at ground zero on Sept. 11 to a Washington state courthouse, has been identified. The Daily Herald reports that Browne had seen the coverage of the flag’s return to New York earlier this month and contacted authorities. (Andy Bronson / Herald via Associated Press)
Associated Press

EVERETT – The man who turned in an American flag raised at ground zero on Sept. 11 to a Washington state courthouse has been identified.

The Daily Herald reported Brian Browne had seen the coverage of the flag’s return to New York this month and contacted authorities. In 2014 he had turned the flag, which disappeared from ground zero, into a fire station in Everett. The flag is now at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

Browne, a flag collector, spoke with Everett detectives this month. Browne said he got the flag in 2006 from a friend he believed got it from the wife of a former New York City employee.

Browne, in a statement released Tuesday, said “my motivation was to return what I thought was lost property” and he was happy that it was now in a museum.