Flag for Familes of Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans

A famous flag and symbol of 9/11 will help a local Hudson Valley group raise money next month for war veterans and their families. The National 9/11 Flag will be brought from Manhattan and displayed on Oct. 23 during the Committee for the Families of Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans’ radiothon at Anthony’s Pier 9 in New Windsor, committee members announced Wednesday.

The roughly 20-foot high by 30.5 foot long flag, which once flew on a building across from the World Trade Center, was partially destroyed in the attacks. In 2008, a group of 58 volunteers in Greensburg, Kansas, began a restoration by stitching flags salvaged from a tornado. Since then, the flag has toured the country and has pieces of flags from 50 states. Rolling Thunder with a state police escort will bring the flag up to Orange County.

The Committee will hold the “Home of the Free Because of the Brave” radiothon from 9 a.m. to 9.p.m., on WPDH radio, which broadcasts through the Hudson Valley and Catskills. Committee members hope to raise more than $100,000 to help Hudson Valley veterans for such things as rent, fuel, food and transportation. Volunteers are needed. Contact 845-583-5252 or www.familiesofwarvets.org.