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Music

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Narrator: Bravery, grace, spirit and strength . . . the feelings the American flag evoke in

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its citizens mirror those felt watching a national treasure -- the space shuttle -- launch on

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missions to explore and discover our universe. The nation admires its flag in times of

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celebration, competition, war, peace and tragedy. A few days after the collapse of the World

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Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, "The National 9/11 Flag" waved in the breeze attached

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to the scaffolding of a building directly south of the attacks. Even torn and tattered, it

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made an impact on the Space Coast community . . . as local heroes stitched a Florida

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restorative patch to the flag at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Feb. 18.

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Jeff Parness/Director, New York Says Thank You Foundation: There's this cathartic element of

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'Well, I can finally do something. I can hold this needle and thread and I can finally put a

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stitch in and try to make this whole, you know, from what was taken away from us.

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LeRoy Haynes/Former Fire Marshal and Commander, FDNY: This is awesome, this is awesome. The

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fact that it's here and that I'm here. We're both survivors.

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Narrator: Today, the flag is on a cross-country journey to be restored to its original

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13-stripe design using pieces of fabric from American flags destined for retirement in all 50

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states. Kennedy's Visitor Complex was the official stop for the state of Florida. The

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star-spangled banner, which brings new meaning to national collaboration, has already touched

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thousands of lives . . . aboard the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during the home

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opener for the New York Giants, at Fort Hood, Texas, at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and at

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Wisconsin's Marian University. And at Kennedy's Visitor Complex as it was raised over the

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Rocket Garden, where American ingenuity flourishes with rockets and capsules from NASA's

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Mercury, Gemini and Apollo days.

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Joe Dowdy/Special Operations Manager, NASA's Kennedy Space Center: You know, I kind of think

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of America as this magnificent mosaic that's composed of all these various events, and

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various places that make us a special country. And, you know, our history is replete with all

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kinds of examples of sacrifice, 9/11 certainly is very fresh in our memories, but also here

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at the Kennedy Space Center.

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Narrator: Once complete, "The National 9/11 Flag" will become a part of a permanent

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collection of the National September 11 Memorial Museum being built at the World Trade Center