Thousands of Atlantans and a river of American flags flowed in solemn procession Saturday to the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield, where the banners will wave for a week as a testament to the victims of 9/11.
"It's just awesome," said Krista Eckman, 50, of Austell, waiting to snap pictures of her son Clay marching with his Junior ROTC cadre.
"I'm so glad to see this many people take the time for this," said Eckman as Boy Scout troops, sports teams, parents pushing strollers and young singles with dogs in patriotic colors moved down Old 41 bearing their standards on 10-foot aluminum poles.
They traveled in a silence broken only by the skirling of the Atlanta Bagpipe Ensemble. "It's heartening."
Eckman marveled that the marchers began assembling at 7 a.m. at nearby Grace Community Church, but at least 100 volunteers arose much earlier, arriving at the national park at 5:45 to pound 2,977 4-foot lengths of rebar into the field at the foot of Kennesaw Mountain.
Positioned every 10 feet in a meticulously-constructed grid, the rebar served as mounting posts for the hollow aluminum flagpoles.
The flags will fly until Fri., Sept. 16.
At 7:30 a.m. Sunday, on the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle will speak at a memorial service at the battlefield park, followed by a reading of the names of the dead.
This Christo-like installation, which required four months of planning and a $36,000 investment, was coordinated by the Kiwanis Club of Marietta. It was first created the year after the attacks, then again on the five-year anniversary. This year is the first time that volunteers were invited to bring the flags to the park in an early-morning parade. Some 2,200 had signed up to carry a flag by Saturday morning.
"It surprised all of us, the power of these flags," said Kiwanis chaplain Phil Owens. "People would sit here and just boo-hoo."
"It is so fluid," said Robert Tango, 60, a professor of architecture at Marietta's Southern Polytechnic State University. "You have this ocean of red, white and blue that takes on a dynamic that is just amazing. . . In a sense you are seeing the wind."
The flags are on sale for $20 each to defray the costs of the event.
For information: 911fieldofflags.com/
About the Author
