> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # World Trade Center flag waves in Santa Monica - URL: https://www.smdp.com/world-trade-center-flag-waves-in-santa-monica/ - Published: 2002-04-23T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:14:59.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Local police, firemen gather to view WTC flag* *By JASON AUSLANDER Daily Press Staff Writer* The American flag that was waving atop the South Tower of the World Trade Center the morning of Sept. 11 made an unbilled appearance at an apartment complex in Santa Monica on Monday. Members of the Santa Monica Fire Department and the Santa Monica Police Department, as well as several fortunate neighbors, gathered in the courtyard of the three-story building to hold the flag and read the messages of hope, remembrance and, at times vengeance, written upon it. “This is pretty special,” said Walter Shirk, SMFD battalion chief. “But nobody told me to bring Kleenex.” The flag arrived recently in Los Angeles for a U.S. Navy function, said Grant Ivey, national director for the Naval League of the United States. The flag appeared at Sunday’s baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres and was set to head back to New York on Monday night. But between the baseball game and it’s appointed departure time, the flag was just sitting around Ivey’s Santa Monica apartment. So, he called up the fire department and invited them over. “I just figured we’ve got it here and people need to see it,” Ivey said. The flag was found still attached to its flagpole by one grommet after the South Tower collapsed, said Sgt. Calvin Lawrence, a marine stationed in Brooklyn, N.Y., who was charged with guarding the flag on it’s California trip. “It brings me great honor to present this to you all,” Lawrence told the group of firefighters, police officers and neighbors who gathered around the flag Monday evening. The only marks it carries of Sept. 11 are a few brownish stains on one corner. Otherwise, it is completely tear-free and intact. Lawrence, who witnessed the second plane hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, said that after the flag was found, it was placed near the entrance to the emergency services headquarters next to ground zero. There, friends and family of the victims, as well as other visitors to the site, emblazoned one side of the flag with messages that run the gamut of emotions suffered by many, if not most, of the residents of this country. “Our spirit will never be broken,” said one message. “We will never forget all of you,” said another. “God bless you.” And finally, a member of the New York Police Department wrote simply, “Avenge us!!” It was a powerful, emotional reminder of a tragic day in American history. “We’re so far away here,” said Mary Rose Sosa, a resident of Ivey’s apartment building. “It makes us feel like we’re at least a part of it.” Said Bessie Novos, another resident of the building, “It’s wonderful, heart-warming.” Kathy Hayn, who along with her two young sons walked around the flag and helped to keep it from touching the ground said, “It’s an honor to be touching it.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/042302-02_01.jpg) Two Santa Monica firefighters read messages written on an American flag that used to fly atop the World Trade Center’s South Tower. (Photo: Jason Auslander/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 23, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042302.pdf?ref=smdp.com)