September 17, 2024 • 14 mins
Join Charley in this episode as he recounts the remarkable success of Flags For the Flagless’s latest event, a major milestone in their partnership with the city of Flagstaff. Discover the behind-the-scenes details and hear firsthand about the teamwork and triumphs that made this one of their most impactful events to date. Don't miss this inspiring story of community collaboration and achievement!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome back. It's been a long two weeks since we
last spoke, and lots has happened between the last podcast
my team and I put out and today's recording. My goodness,
it's been so busy getting prepared and pulling off one
of the best flag events I've been able to put
together in my ten years since starting my Flag Foundation
(00:35):
Flags for the Flag List, But I'll talk about that
later on First, I wanted to pick up where I
left off last week and let us to tell you
about what I encountered in witness once I crossed the
Brooklyn Bridge and walked into Lower Manhattan on that September eleventh.
On my last show, I spoke about being in Brooklyn,
New York on September eleventh, and how I'd given thirty
(00:56):
five classroom flags to a public school there, and afterwards,
while I was leaving, I was stopped by a teacher
from the school. She had told me that her home
covered with all kinds of different colors that had been
blown from the World Trade Center across the East River
and landed throughout the city of Brooklyn. These papers landed
(01:17):
on her car, they landed on her lawn, some landed
in the Street, and she said many of those loose
papers which were once inside the twin towers, landed on
her driveway. She continued on and told me that nobody
in her neighborhood, no one in her community touched these papers,
(01:38):
none of them. No one could clean them up. These
papers were remnants of lives lost. So as I crossed
the bridge that day, I had this story from the
teacher fresh in my mind. I also had the vision
of those thousands of people who are walking across the
bridge going the opposite direction of how I was now
(02:00):
walking into Lower Manhattan. Now, mind you, this wasn't my
first visit to ground zero, as I have also mentioned previously,
it was my first visit though on a nine to eleven.
I could tell once I crossed the bridge, and once
I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge going into Manhattan, there was
something different. You could just tell in the air that
(02:24):
things were different, and by the noises or lack thereof
that were around you, one could just tell that there
was something different about this visit, about the city on
this day. And once I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge that's
September eleventh, that had started to get closer to Ground zero,
I could immediately tell what was different this time. It
(02:48):
was not until I had reached the memorial and I
figured out what was so different. It was the silence.
The silence as you approached the memorial. It started as
soon as I walked off the bridge. I didn't hear
any automobile horns. I didn't hear any sirens, no loud music,
(03:08):
none of it. It was just quiet. And if you've
been to New York, you know that this never happens, right.
So that's what caught me was how quiet it was,
how respectful it was. As soon as I walked off
that bridge, there were no kids crying, no one was laughing,
(03:31):
and there wasn't anybody and there must have been a
couple of hundred in and around the memorial. There was
nobody speaking above a whisper, like you couldn't overhear someone's conversation.
And this was more so than I'd ever seen before.
As I looked around, I noticed there was like a rose,
a long stem rose was placed on each and every
(03:53):
name that was chiseled into the memorial. Then what I did,
what we all do, is we walk in a cemetery,
we see a memorial, we walk and we read the
names as we pass by them, right on headstones or markers.
And I remember walking through the memorial and there was
one name which I read, and I'll never forget to
(04:15):
this day how it was put on the memorial, and
it said Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child. As
I continued walking, I remember seeing a guy in blue
jeans and he had a T shirt on and on
the back of his T shirt, the blue T shirt
never forget, and white writing on the back and had
said WTC nine to eleven survivor, World Trade Center nine
(04:42):
to eleven Survivor. He's there. So I came away feeling
and again this is of my own opinion, but after
what I witnessed, and I felt that day that if
given the chance, I feel every American should visit nine
to eleven Memorial once in their lifetime, without a doubt.
(05:07):
It's such a reset, it's such a reminder, it's such
a good way to remember. Right. So that's September ninth.
I'm sorry that September ninth. As I walked along the
banks of the East River under the Brooklyn Bridge, I
came across this marker and as those of you that
(05:29):
know me, I love history, especially US history, and I
stumble across this historical marker, and it's on this large
boulder right at the base of the river there near
the bridge base of the river. Big plaque on it,
and it read it was at this location in August
seventeen seventy six. Surrounded and outnumbered, the American Army retreated
(05:55):
to their fortifications, protecting the village of Brooklyn and the
ferry Cross. So, like I said, being the lover of history,
after reading this on nine to eleven, and imagining what
it must have looked like as Washington and as men
departed from this shoreline which now I stood upon, I
looked up and I looked back across the river towards
(06:17):
the skylight in Manhattan. And there in this total surprise
vision that was awestruck because across the river, less than
a mile from where I was standing, I observed the
tribute in light the first time in my life in person.
(06:39):
And so it's the twin lights which you have seen
photos of, more likely twin lights which are projecting their
really white bright lights up towards the heavens. If you
haven't seen these photos, are not familiar with one speaking
about these twin beams. They reached four miles into the
(07:01):
sky and they're comprised of eighty eight light bulbs, seven
thousand watten xenon light bulbs, and they're positioned in two
forty eight squares and they can be seen from a
sixty mile radius around Lower Manhattan. And these two lights,
(07:21):
they're known as the Tribute in Light. And these two
beams reflect where the twin towers one stood and are
only turned on one time a year, and that's from
dust to dawn on the night of September eleventh. You know,
So what a way to end this day, right. I
started out providing classroom flags to a school in need,
(07:44):
walked across the brook brooklyn Bridge. I was able to
pay my respects and be at ground zero on a
September eleventh, and then to actually see the Tribute enlightened
person Like, what a great day, What a great day
to be a part of what I put into it.
You know, here I am ten years later talking about it.
(08:07):
Very impactful. So now looking back to my past and
looking forward to the future, I've come to realize that
the best for me, the best way for me to
remember or to commemorate a nine to eleven is to
try and get communities to come together, getting as many
(08:28):
people as possible and in a particular county or city
to raise American flags in honor of all those who
were taken from us. And I ask people this question,
do you recall what this country was like on September twelfth,
September thirteenth, or September fourteenth in two thousand and one?
Right the days and the months immediately after nine to eleven?
(08:52):
Remember what those days were like? Those most that can remember.
We all came together as a country. We were brothers,
we were sisters, we were best friends, we were united.
(09:18):
Flag pins were worn by everyone. American flags were raised
and flown proudly. So you know, maybe in my future
I can plan flag raising events for all future nine
to elevens. And that certainly looks like what the future
holds for the city of Flagstaff, Arizona, after what I
did this past nine to eleven. While I was there,
(09:41):
it was in Flagstaff, Arizona, where I hadentified nine empty flagpoles.
Then I was able to find nine different groups to
raise an American flag on these empty flagpoles, and all
of them were to be raised at nine am. So
in Flagstaff, just this past week, this past nine eleven,
flag Staff sought nine American flags raised at nine am
(10:05):
on nine to eleven. Their chief of Police was involved,
their fire chief was involved. City council members were present,
and members of local businesses to partners. I lived four
hours away from flag Staff. The commuting back and forth,
you know, be up for a day or two, come home,
(10:27):
then a week later, up for a day or two, meeting,
you know, trying to work out logistics for bucket trucks
and ladders and re roping flagpoles and gaining access to
particular areas. Meeting with the chief of police, Meeting with
the various figureheads within the community to get them on
board with an event that had never had been done
before in their community. So there was some hesitation on
(10:49):
some people's part, but on other people part, they were
all in, totally behind it. Things went so well that
there was talk of making this event a yearly addition
in their city. Couldn't believe it. It went better than
I anticipated. I can tell you that obviously so well
that the city wants to do this now annually on
(11:12):
every nine to eleven, is to have their community involved
in raising American flags as a tribute to those we lost.
So you just never know what will come about by
putting up American flags around or in your community getting
people involved. I saw firsthand this past week with the
(11:35):
power of a community its members can do when motivated
to make a difference. I want to close this podcast
with letting you know that I understand September eleventh is
a very difficult day to commemorate, to have people be
able to take pause and take a moment to reflect.
(11:57):
September eleventh is not the fourth of July. There's no celebration,
it's not Veterans Day, it's not Memorial Day, where most
folks get a day off, kids don't go to school,
and not on September eleventh. A reporter asked me this
past week, Hey, are you going to have school children
involved with your flag raising? On nine to eleven, I said, no,
(12:18):
kids have school. They're not going to miss school for this.
There's no holiday, no time off, no kids involved. Folks
go to work just like it was any other day.
But for those of us who are old enough to
remember what happened and where we were now the world changed.
(12:39):
It's a day that you know at least on that
September eleventh. It's a day that consumes us at times.
But like I said earlier, think back to the days
immediately that followed. What was it like in our country
September twelfth, two thousand and one, September thirteenth, two thousand
and one, September fourteenth, so on, so on. Month weeks
after the Love Friendship United Front we all had. Will
(13:06):
we ever be like that again? I can't answer that,
But what I can tell you is that from the
past nine to eleven's I have been a part of
it is possible if each of us makes the effort
to be a part of something bigger than us all.
If you enjoyed this podcast and some of my previous ones,
(13:27):
I ask you please to head over to my social
media pages. The best one would be to go to
Facebook and that's flags for the flag lists, name of
my foundation, name of the Facebook page. You can see photos,
you could ask questions, you could donate, should you to
all kinds of info You need to get a hold
of me. If you have questions, concerns, anything, reach out.
(13:49):
Social media is the best way to get a hold
of me, and I look forward to talking with you
in two weeks. Thank you, everybody, Thank you for joining
us on this episode of Flags for the Flagless.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
This episode was produced by Charlie Foley, Doug Levy, and
Jason Wykel. To listen to Charlie's newest episodes, please download
and subscribe through your favorite podcast service, and if you
like the show enough, leave a review. Your thoughts would
greatly be appreciated. Flags for the Flagless United Stories of
America is proudly produced and distributed by the eight Side Network.
Welcome back. It's been a long two weeks since we
last spoke, and lots has happened between the last podcast
my team and I put out and today's recording. My goodness,
it's been so busy getting prepared and pulling off one
of the best flag events I've been able to put
together in my ten years since starting my Flag Foundation
(00:35):
Flags for the Flag List, But I'll talk about that
later on First, I wanted to pick up where I
left off last week and let us to tell you
about what I encountered in witness once I crossed the
Brooklyn Bridge and walked into Lower Manhattan on that September eleventh.
On my last show, I spoke about being in Brooklyn,
New York on September eleventh, and how I'd given thirty
(00:56):
five classroom flags to a public school there, and afterwards,
while I was leaving, I was stopped by a teacher
from the school. She had told me that her home
covered with all kinds of different colors that had been
blown from the World Trade Center across the East River
and landed throughout the city of Brooklyn. These papers landed
(01:17):
on her car, they landed on her lawn, some landed
in the Street, and she said many of those loose
papers which were once inside the twin towers, landed on
her driveway. She continued on and told me that nobody
in her neighborhood, no one in her community touched these papers,
(01:38):
none of them. No one could clean them up. These
papers were remnants of lives lost. So as I crossed
the bridge that day, I had this story from the
teacher fresh in my mind. I also had the vision
of those thousands of people who are walking across the
bridge going the opposite direction of how I was now
(02:00):
walking into Lower Manhattan. Now, mind you, this wasn't my
first visit to ground zero, as I have also mentioned previously,
it was my first visit though on a nine to eleven.
I could tell once I crossed the bridge, and once
I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge going into Manhattan, there was
something different. You could just tell in the air that
(02:24):
things were different, and by the noises or lack thereof
that were around you, one could just tell that there
was something different about this visit, about the city on
this day. And once I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge that's
September eleventh, that had started to get closer to Ground zero,
I could immediately tell what was different this time. It
(02:48):
was not until I had reached the memorial and I
figured out what was so different. It was the silence.
The silence as you approached the memorial. It started as
soon as I walked off the bridge. I didn't hear
any automobile horns. I didn't hear any sirens, no loud music,
(03:08):
none of it. It was just quiet. And if you've
been to New York, you know that this never happens, right.
So that's what caught me was how quiet it was,
how respectful it was. As soon as I walked off
that bridge, there were no kids crying, no one was laughing,
(03:31):
and there wasn't anybody and there must have been a
couple of hundred in and around the memorial. There was
nobody speaking above a whisper, like you couldn't overhear someone's conversation.
And this was more so than I'd ever seen before.
As I looked around, I noticed there was like a rose,
a long stem rose was placed on each and every
(03:53):
name that was chiseled into the memorial. Then what I did,
what we all do, is we walk in a cemetery,
we see a memorial, we walk and we read the
names as we pass by them, right on headstones or markers.
And I remember walking through the memorial and there was
one name which I read, and I'll never forget to
(04:15):
this day how it was put on the memorial, and
it said Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child. As
I continued walking, I remember seeing a guy in blue
jeans and he had a T shirt on and on
the back of his T shirt, the blue T shirt
never forget, and white writing on the back and had
said WTC nine to eleven survivor, World Trade Center nine
(04:42):
to eleven Survivor. He's there. So I came away feeling
and again this is of my own opinion, but after
what I witnessed, and I felt that day that if
given the chance, I feel every American should visit nine
to eleven Memorial once in their lifetime, without a doubt.
(05:07):
It's such a reset, it's such a reminder, it's such
a good way to remember. Right. So that's September ninth.
I'm sorry that September ninth. As I walked along the
banks of the East River under the Brooklyn Bridge, I
came across this marker and as those of you that
(05:29):
know me, I love history, especially US history, and I
stumble across this historical marker, and it's on this large
boulder right at the base of the river there near
the bridge base of the river. Big plaque on it,
and it read it was at this location in August
seventeen seventy six. Surrounded and outnumbered, the American Army retreated
(05:55):
to their fortifications, protecting the village of Brooklyn and the
ferry Cross. So, like I said, being the lover of history,
after reading this on nine to eleven, and imagining what
it must have looked like as Washington and as men
departed from this shoreline which now I stood upon, I
looked up and I looked back across the river towards
(06:17):
the skylight in Manhattan. And there in this total surprise
vision that was awestruck because across the river, less than
a mile from where I was standing, I observed the
tribute in light the first time in my life in person.
(06:39):
And so it's the twin lights which you have seen
photos of, more likely twin lights which are projecting their
really white bright lights up towards the heavens. If you
haven't seen these photos, are not familiar with one speaking
about these twin beams. They reached four miles into the
(07:01):
sky and they're comprised of eighty eight light bulbs, seven
thousand watten xenon light bulbs, and they're positioned in two
forty eight squares and they can be seen from a
sixty mile radius around Lower Manhattan. And these two lights,
(07:21):
they're known as the Tribute in Light. And these two
beams reflect where the twin towers one stood and are
only turned on one time a year, and that's from
dust to dawn on the night of September eleventh. You know,
So what a way to end this day, right. I
started out providing classroom flags to a school in need,
(07:44):
walked across the brook brooklyn Bridge. I was able to
pay my respects and be at ground zero on a
September eleventh, and then to actually see the Tribute enlightened
person Like, what a great day, What a great day
to be a part of what I put into it.
You know, here I am ten years later talking about it.
(08:07):
Very impactful. So now looking back to my past and
looking forward to the future, I've come to realize that
the best for me, the best way for me to
remember or to commemorate a nine to eleven is to
try and get communities to come together, getting as many
(08:28):
people as possible and in a particular county or city
to raise American flags in honor of all those who
were taken from us. And I ask people this question,
do you recall what this country was like on September twelfth,
September thirteenth, or September fourteenth in two thousand and one?
Right the days and the months immediately after nine to eleven?
(08:52):
Remember what those days were like? Those most that can remember.
We all came together as a country. We were brothers,
we were sisters, we were best friends, we were united.
(09:18):
Flag pins were worn by everyone. American flags were raised
and flown proudly. So you know, maybe in my future
I can plan flag raising events for all future nine
to elevens. And that certainly looks like what the future
holds for the city of Flagstaff, Arizona, after what I
did this past nine to eleven. While I was there,
(09:41):
it was in Flagstaff, Arizona, where I hadentified nine empty flagpoles.
Then I was able to find nine different groups to
raise an American flag on these empty flagpoles, and all
of them were to be raised at nine am. So
in Flagstaff, just this past week, this past nine eleven,
flag Staff sought nine American flags raised at nine am
(10:05):
on nine to eleven. Their chief of Police was involved,
their fire chief was involved. City council members were present,
and members of local businesses to partners. I lived four
hours away from flag Staff. The commuting back and forth,
you know, be up for a day or two, come home,
(10:27):
then a week later, up for a day or two, meeting,
you know, trying to work out logistics for bucket trucks
and ladders and re roping flagpoles and gaining access to
particular areas. Meeting with the chief of police, Meeting with
the various figureheads within the community to get them on
board with an event that had never had been done
before in their community. So there was some hesitation on
(10:49):
some people's part, but on other people part, they were
all in, totally behind it. Things went so well that
there was talk of making this event a yearly addition
in their city. Couldn't believe it. It went better than
I anticipated. I can tell you that obviously so well
that the city wants to do this now annually on
(11:12):
every nine to eleven, is to have their community involved
in raising American flags as a tribute to those we lost.
So you just never know what will come about by
putting up American flags around or in your community getting
people involved. I saw firsthand this past week with the
(11:35):
power of a community its members can do when motivated
to make a difference. I want to close this podcast
with letting you know that I understand September eleventh is
a very difficult day to commemorate, to have people be
able to take pause and take a moment to reflect.
(11:57):
September eleventh is not the fourth of July. There's no celebration,
it's not Veterans Day, it's not Memorial Day, where most
folks get a day off, kids don't go to school,
and not on September eleventh. A reporter asked me this
past week, Hey, are you going to have school children
involved with your flag raising? On nine to eleven, I said, no,
(12:18):
kids have school. They're not going to miss school for this.
There's no holiday, no time off, no kids involved. Folks
go to work just like it was any other day.
But for those of us who are old enough to
remember what happened and where we were now the world changed.
(12:39):
It's a day that you know at least on that
September eleventh. It's a day that consumes us at times.
But like I said earlier, think back to the days
immediately that followed. What was it like in our country
September twelfth, two thousand and one, September thirteenth, two thousand
and one, September fourteenth, so on, so on. Month weeks
after the Love Friendship United Front we all had. Will
(13:06):
we ever be like that again? I can't answer that,
But what I can tell you is that from the
past nine to eleven's I have been a part of
it is possible if each of us makes the effort
to be a part of something bigger than us all.
If you enjoyed this podcast and some of my previous ones,
(13:27):
I ask you please to head over to my social
media pages. The best one would be to go to
Facebook and that's flags for the flag lists, name of
my foundation, name of the Facebook page. You can see photos,
you could ask questions, you could donate, should you to
all kinds of info You need to get a hold
of me. If you have questions, concerns, anything, reach out.
(13:49):
Social media is the best way to get a hold
of me, and I look forward to talking with you
in two weeks. Thank you, everybody, Thank you for joining
us on this episode of Flags for the Flagless.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
This episode was produced by Charlie Foley, Doug Levy, and
Jason Wykel. To listen to Charlie's newest episodes, please download
and subscribe through your favorite podcast service, and if you
like the show enough, leave a review. Your thoughts would
greatly be appreciated. Flags for the Flagless United Stories of
America is proudly produced and distributed by the eight Side Network.
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