COLUMBUS, Ga. – Twenty-five years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a powerful piece of Columbus history continues to hang inside the Frank G. Lumpkin Jr. Center at Columbus State University.
Measuring approximately 25 feet tall and 40 feet wide, the Blanchard Flag was created by students at Blanchard Elementary School following the attacks. Each section carries a child's personal expression of patriotism, compassion, and remembrance.
The idea came from Michele Boyd, whose two sons attended Blanchard Elementary at the time. After her 7-year-old watched firefighters display an American flag on the damaged Pentagon, Boyd provided students with 12-by-14-inch fabric panels and invited them to decorate the pieces with whatever was in their hearts.
Once sewn together, the individual panels formed the enormous American flag that would soon travel beyond Columbus.
Blanchard Elementary students, their families, and the flag traveled to New York City for a visit to P.S. 142 Amalia Castro Elementary School, located approximately one mile from Ground Zero. The flag later traveled to Washington, D.C., where it was displayed at the Pentagon during a national Flag Day ceremony on June 14, 2002.
Approximately 270 people from Columbus participated in the trip. Rain during the Pentagon ceremony caused portions of the original artwork to fade, but the flag returned home carrying even greater historical significance.
Two of its stars bear the signatures of President George W. Bush and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Congressman Mac Collins helped arrange for Bush to sign one of the stars, while Giuliani signed another during a speaking engagement in Atlanta.
After considering several possible locations, Boyd selected Columbus State as the flag's permanent home. She wanted it displayed locally where the students who created it could return, view the complete flag, and find their individual contributions.
The Blanchard Flag was ceremonially raised inside the Lumpkin Center on Feb. 26, 2003, between Columbus State women's and men's basketball games. Then-CSU President Frank Brown described it as a "national treasure" representing the American spirit displayed following the attacks.
Today, generations of CSU students, student-athletes, alumni, and community members continue to pass beneath the flag. On the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, the Blanchard Flag remains a lasting symbol of remembrance, unity, and compassion, preserving the voices of Columbus children who responded to tragedy with love instead of hate.
