The banner yet waves

Congress approved a resolution Sept. 13 asking every U.S. citizen to fly American flags outside homes, businesses, public buildings and churches for 30 days in response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

But many won’t need the encouragement. Across the nation, specialty shops, hardware stores, K-Marts and Wal-Marts have been selling out of flags, while just a few blocks from the Capitol, White House tours resumed Wednesday with the estimated 400 visitors each receiving a small American flag as they left.

At the Pentagon, a huge banner of red, white and blue hung near the wall demolished by a hijacked plane in one of the terrorist attacks.

On Sept. 10, town leaders in Amherst, Mass., voted to restrict how often and how long American flags could fly along downtown streets. In the words of the town manager, extended displays seemed “a bit too much.” The next day, as the World Trade Center crumbled and the Pentagon burned, the banners were quickly hoisted once more on flagpoles lining two streets in the politically liberal town, according to an Associated Press report.

At the Colonial Flag and Specialty store in Sandy, Utah, customers clutching flags by the handful waited to pay for their purchases. Truck driver Bobby Whiteman planned to drape two flags from his rig’s side mirrors. Don Rosenkrantz, a fire battalion chief, bought flags to hang on his fire truck. Even Martin Christensen, who has a flag flying outside his home, was in line. He wanted a bigger one, the Associated Press said.