This week the New York City Police department will be sending a giant flag to troops of the 26th Marine ExpeditionaryUnit, which landed yesterday at a makeshift airfield near Kandahar to prepare for combat in Afghanistan. The 12-18foot flag, which adorned a wall on one of the buildings at ground zero, is covered with hundreds of messages scrawledin magic marker, from co-workers and family members of victims of the World Trade Center Attack.

The messages range from expressions of personal grief to wishes for “good hunting” and reminders that its “pay backtime.” The director of the Marine Corps public affairs office in New York City, who arranged to send the flag toMarines who will fight in Afghanistan, said “its going to remind [them] why they’re doing this, because itpersonalizes their operation.”

In Washington, DC yesterday, another group of family members of September 11 victims began a journey of a differentsort to send a different message. They are walking from the Pentagon in Washington DC to Ground Zero in Manhattan tocall for an end to the US bombing of Afghanistan.

Guests:

• Amber Amundson, walking from Washington DC to NYC. Her husband Craig Amundson was killed in the Pentagonon September 11.
• Ryan Amundson, brother of Craig Amundson.
• Danny Muller, Voices in the Wilderness, one of the organizers of the march from DC to NYC.

Related link:

• Voices in the Wilderness