Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2001, about the events the day before when thousands of Tucsonans formed a U.S. flag to honor the victims and show the nation's resolve just four days after the terror attacks on America. We are reprinting the original article today in observance of the 25th anniversary of 9/11:
About 15,000 Tucsonans clogged roads and endured midday heat Saturday (Sept. 15, 2001) to form a human American flag in response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
About 15,000 people help make a giant U.S. flag on the outfield of Tucson Electric Park on Sept. 15, 2001, four days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Organizers spent two hours arranging most of them into a red, white and blue show of support for victims. Then an Arizona Daily Star photographer snapped the flag from a police helicopter.
“The idea of terrorism is to strike fear. This is a way to show them that we're stronger than they thought we were,” said 24-year-old college student Rob Lowry as he waited to merge into the flag.
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A KRQ-FM radio disc jockey and his listeners hatched the idea for the event as they talked on air shortly after the deadly attacks.
“This came from a good place in our hearts,” said DJ Johnjay Van Es. He said the photo will be displayed on billboards and postcards.
Organizers had laid out a flag design that called for 7,900 people dressed in red, white or blue shirts. After about 15,000 people arrived, they squeezed 10,000 into the flag and then bordered it with a few thousand more. The rest watched in the stands as the flag unfurled in the outfield, or they left.
If you can't travel 2,000 miles to help in New York or D.C., “you have to be there in other ways,” explained John Van Schoyck, a Raytheon business administrator. Four Raytheon employees from other states were passengers on the doomed, hijacked planes.
Army Sgt. Darvis Perry and four others stood holding the corners of a large cloth flag over their heads for shade.
Perry and his family were flying to Hawaii Tuesday to accept a recruiting award when the attacks grounded them in Los Angeles. They drove a rental car back to Tucson and came to the ballpark, convinced war is likely.
“This is the first step in what is probably going to be a long journey for me and a lot of people,” Perry said.
People from the Red section walk onto the field to form the first red stripe of the human flag on Sept. 15, 2001 at Tucson Electric Park.
Sandra Fernandez, a clerk in Pima County’s child-support office, hauled 14 young kids to Tucson Electric Park because she thought it would help heal the trauma of the past week.
“We need to show that we're all Americans and we're all one big family and we're not going to let other countries just step all over us,” she said.
Rhonda Whatley, a 29-year-old medical lab technician who lived in Oklahoma City during the 1995 bombing, went to the ballpark instead of going home to sleep after her all-night shift at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
“I've cried every day since this happened because I know what people are going through” in New York, she said.
Joan Philips, a liquor merchandiser, called it inspiring to see so many people stand shoulder to shoulder.
“I believe in mass energy and mass love,” Philips said. “To me, it’s like pulling down the light of God and sending it to all the world.”
The Arizona Daily Star and Eyewitness News 4 joined KRQ in sponsoring the event.
Although some people arrived up to three hours early, most came in around 10 a.m. as planned. By 11 a.m., many of the white shirts carried in under arms were draped over heads to ward off the sun.
Many organizations pitched in. Air Force reservists handed out water from a tanker truck. At 11:30, the Golder Ranch Fire District unleashed three hoses to rain water on the crowd, which roared approval.
Ambulance services took at least 21 people to hospitals with heat-related illness, and emergency medical technicians treated at least 70 people at the park.
The temperature hit 89 degrees by noon, which was aggravated by high humidity.
Four fire departments invited to participate pulled together to set up a first-aid station after the large crowd overwhelmed the hastily planned event.
Firefighters stood in and around the stadium collecting donations for New York City’s Fire Department.
The Rural/Metro and Tucson fire departments were invited to participate in the flag event, but firefighters said organizers didn't name one to coordinate emergency medical services.
People join hands during a prayer as part of the human flag creation on Sept. 15, 2001 in Tucson, in honor of those who lost their lives in the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.
“It was taking them so long to set up the (photo) shot that people started getting heat-related illnesses,” said Paul McDonough, Tucson Fire Department spokesman.
Several people said one thought helped them endure the heat.
“It’s nothing compared to what they went though in New York and D.C.,” said UA student Melissa Fernandes, 18.
The cover of the Arizona Daily Star on Sept. 12, 2001.
