View source for Raising the Flag at Ground Zero

{{Short description|Photograph by Thomas E. Franklin}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Ground Zero Spirit.jpg|thumb|''Raising the Flag at Ground Zero'']]
'''''Raising the Flag at Ground Zero''''' is a photograph by [[Thomas E. Franklin]] of [[The Record (North Jersey)|''The Record'']] newspaper of [[Bergen County, New Jersey]], taken on September 11, 2001. The picture shows three [[New York City Fire Department|New York City firefighter]]s raising the [[Flag of the United States|U.S. flag]] at the [[World Trade Center site|World Trade Center]], following the [[September 11 attacks]]. The official names for the photograph used by ''The Record'' are '''''Firefighters Raising Flag''''' and '''''Firemen Raising the Flag at Ground Zero'''''.<ref>{{cite web |year=2012 |url=http://northjersey.mycapture.com/mycapture/category.asp?eventID=1289511&CategoryID=69063 |title=9/11 Photo Gallery |work=NorthJerseyimages |publisher=[[North Jersey Media Group]] |access-date=July 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620023510/http://northjersey.mycapture.com/mycapture/category.asp?eventID=1289511&CategoryID=69063 |archive-date=June 20, 2013 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The photo appeared on ''The Record'' front page on September 12, 2001. The paper also put it on the [[Associated Press]] wire and it appeared on the covers of several newspapers around the world. It has often been compared to the ''[[Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima]]'' photograph taken by [[Joe Rosenthal]] during [[World War II]].<ref name="SI2021"/>

==Photograph==
Franklin was with photographer [[James Nachtwey]] when he saw the firefighters. He shot the photograph shortly after 5 p.m. with a [[telephoto lens]], standing under a pedestrian walkway across the [[West Side Highway]] that connected the center to the [[Brookfield Place (New York City)|World Financial Center]], located at the northwest corner of the [[World Trade Center site]].  Franklin said the firefighters were about {{convert|150|yards}} away from him and the debris was {{convert|100|yards}} beyond that.  They were about {{convert|20|ft}} off the ground. The firefighters pictured were Brooklyn-based firefighters George Johnson of [[Rockaway Beach, Queens|Rockaway Beach]], Dan McWilliams of [[Long Island]] (both from Ladder 157), and Billy Eisengrein of [[Staten Island]] (Rescue 2).<ref name="SI2021" /> Franklin had hitched a ride on a [[tugboat]] across the [[Hudson River]], arriving around noon after the towers had collapsed.

==Flag==
The flag came from the yacht ''Star of America'', owned by Shirley Dreifus and her late husband Spiros E. Kopelakis, which was docked in the [[North Cove Marina|yacht basin]] in the Hudson River at the World Financial Center. McWilliams cut the [[Yard_(sailing)|yardarm]] from the yacht with a K12 Saw and then took the flag and its pole from the yacht to an evacuation area on the northwest side of the site.  They found a pole about {{convert|20|ft}} off the ground jutting from a pile of debris thought to have been from the grounds of the [[Marriott World Trade Center]] hotel, situated adjacent to the towers.<ref name="SI2021"/>

Soon after its raising above Ground Zero, the flag disappeared. The city thought it had possession of the flag after the attack; Mayor [[Rudolph Giuliani]] and [[George Pataki]] signed it, and it flew at the [[New York City Hall]], [[Yankee Stadium]] and on the {{USS|Theodore Roosevelt|CVN-71}} during its service in the Mideast.<ref name="SI2021"/>

However, when the flag's owner prepared to formally donate the flag, it was discovered that it was ''not'' the flag from Ground Zero. There was a size discrepancy: the yacht's flag measured {{convert|4|x|6|ft|m}}, while the flag the city had measured {{convert|5|x|8|ft|m}}.<ref>{{cite book |title= Stars & Stripes Forever |first= Richard H. |last= Schneider |year= 2003 |isbn= 0-06-052537-1 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/starsstripesfore00schn/page/160 160–165] |publisher= Harper Collins |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/starsstripesfore00schn/page/160 }}</ref> Dreifus started a website in an effort to get the flag back.<ref name="WTCflag">{{cite web |year=2007 |url=http://www.famouspictures.org/raising-the-flag-at-the-wtc/ |work=Famous Pictures Magazine |title=Raising the Flag at the WTC |access-date=July 16, 2013 |last=Lucas |first=Dean |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820030043/http://www.famouspictures.org/raising-the-flag-at-the-wtc/ |archive-date=August 20, 2013 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref> A 2013 [[CNN]] documentary film, ''The Flag'', directed by filmmakers [[Michael Tucker (director)|Michael Tucker]] and Petra Epperlein, investigated the mystery of this missing 9/11 icon<ref>{{cite web |date=August 22, 2013 |url=http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/22/the-flag-pursues-the-mystery-of-a-missing-911-icon/ |title=''The Flag'' Pursues the Mystery of a Missing 9/11 Icon |publisher=[[CNN]] |access-date=August 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826174502/http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/22/the-flag-pursues-the-mystery-of-a-missing-911-icon/ |archive-date=August 26, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> and discovered video evidence that the flag went missing hours after it was first raised.

The original flag has now been recovered. The recovery came as a result of a lead gathered following the airing of the [[History Channel]]'s ''Brad Meltzer's Lost History'' in 2014. A number of scientists have now verified that the flag is authentic, and it was unveiled on Sunday, September 11, 2016, the 15th anniversary of 9/11, on a History Channel special on the flag, ''America's 9/11 Flag: Rise From the Ashes''.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 6, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/nyregion/long-lost-9-11-flag-an-enduring-mystery-will-go-on-view-at-museum.html |title=Long-Lost 9/11 Flag, an Enduring Mystery, Will Go on View at Museum |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=September 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160906212208/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/nyregion/long-lost-9-11-flag-an-enduring-mystery-will-go-on-view-at-museum.html |archive-date=September 6, 2016 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

==Later use==
[[File:Franklin-bergen.jpg|thumb|White House photo of March 11, 2002, unveiling of Heroes stamp.  From left Postmaster General [[John E. Potter]]; Firefighters Billy Eisengrein and George Johnson; [[George W. Bush]]; U.S. Rep. [[Gary Ackerman]], 5th District, N.Y. (who sponsored the stamp); Firefighter Dan McWilliams; and ''Record'' photographer [[Thomas E. Franklin]], who took the photo featured on the stamp]]
Michael Kessel, a Manhattan attorney, suggested to U.S. Representative [[Gary Ackerman]] that the photo be used for a stamp, and the "Heroes 2001" stamp, USA [[Scott catalogue|Scott]] #B2, was unveiled on March 11, 2002, by President [[George W. Bush]], in a ceremony attended by Franklin, Johnson, Eisengrein, and McWilliams. These stamps were [[semipostal]]s: they had a purchase price (45¢) higher than their postage value (34¢), with the balance given to the [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]]'s relief efforts. A special exception was thus made to the normal requirement by the [[United States Postal Service]] that subjects of stamps be deceased.

In December 2001, the New York City Fire Department unveiled plans for a statue based on the photograph to be placed at the Brooklyn headquarters.  In an effort to be inclusive of all those who had been affected by the tragedy, the statue was to include black, white, and Hispanic firefighters. The change in ethnicity from the actual firefighters, all of whom are white, proved controversial enough that the statue was never built.{{Needs citation|date=September 2024}}

On November 5, 2007, a {{convert|40|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} bronze monument based on the photograph called ''To Lift A Nation'' and depicting three New York firefighters raising the flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center was dedicated at the [[National Fallen Firefighters Memorial]] Park in Emmitsburg, Maryland.<ref>{{Cite web |first= Rusty |last= Shackleford |date= November 6, 2007 |title= 9/11 Firefighters Monument Dedicated |url= http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/190028.php |work= The Jawa Report |access-date= September 11, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090629/http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/190028.php |archive-date= March 4, 2016 |url-status= live |df= mdy-all }}{{verify credibility|date= September 2016}}</ref>

==From another angle==
The picture taken by Thomas E. Franklin is not to be confused with another picture of the same event but from a different angle by [[Lori Grinker]],<ref name="SI2021">{{cite web |last1=McGreevy |first1=Nora |title=A Lesser-Known Photo of an Iconic 9/11 Moment Brings Shades of Gray to the Day's Memory |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/raising-flag-ground-zero-second-look-180978592/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |publisher=Smithsonian |access-date=9 September 2021 |date=8 September 2021}}</ref> a photographer from the photo agency [[Contact Press Images]] (who photographed the entire sequence), nor by Ricky Flores for ''[[The Journal News]]''. Flores also was able to get near Ground Zero on the day of the attacks, and, at around the same time that Franklin took his shot, Flores was able to get into a second story of a nearby building and capture the same scene from a different angle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nyppa.org/flores-911/|title=Ricky Flores - 9/11|website=New York Press Photographers Association, Inc.|access-date=April 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912055208/http://www.nyppa.org/flores-911/|archive-date=September 12, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="WTCflag" /><ref name="SI2021"/>

==See also==
* [[List of photographs considered the most important]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.northjersey.com/ NorthJersey.com] Official site of ''The Record'' (Bergen County, NJ) newspaper
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070111052442/http://www.groundzerospirit.org/ Ground Zero Spirit] North Jersey Media Group 9/11 Disaster Relief Fund for 9/11. Includes photograph memorabilia and story of the photo.
* [http://septterror.tripod.com/firephoto.html Icons: The Photo Seen 'Round the World] Story of the photo

{{New York City Fire Department}}
{{September 11 attacks}}
{{Postage stamps of the United States}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raising The Flag At Ground Zero}}
[[Category:Aftermath of the September 11 attacks]]
[[Category:Flags of the United States]]
[[Category:New York City Fire Department]]
[[Category:Photographs from the September 11 attacks]]
[[Category:Postage stamps of the United States]]
[[Category:Rockaway, Queens]]
[[Category:Special events flags]]
[[Category:Works originally published in American newspapers]]
[[Category:World Trade Center]]
[[Category:Flags in art]]
[[Category:Color photographs]]