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American Morning
Project Hopes to Memorialize WTC Victims
Aired November 09, 2001 - 09:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Many Americans are devoting countless hours to remember those who died in the September 11 attacks. One project is this massive flag of remembrance. Some 100 people have volunteered to help sew the 30-foot-by-20-foot banner, which memorializes the 9/11 victims.
Two people intimately involved with the project are cocreator Sherry Kronenfeld (ph) and Eileen Cirri (ph), who was widowed when her husband, a Port Authority policeman, was killed in the World Trade Center.
Good morning.
SHERRY KRONENFELD: Good morning.
EILEEN CIRRI: Good morning.
ZAHN: It's nice of you both to be with us. First of all, how are you and your six kid doing?
CIRRI: Well, we're holding up. We have a police funeral planned for next week on the 14th and the 15th. My husband hasn't been recovered. That was a private decision we had to make to go along -- so we can move along with our life.
ZAHN: And as I understand it, you're getting overwhelming support from all over the country. A family is traveling from where?
CIRRI: From Scotland and from -- there's Philippine people coming because my husband was also a ham radio operator. But I want to say the most support that I've received is from the Port Authority Police Department itself.
ZAHN: They've really helped you cut through this maze...
CIRRI: Red tape.
ZAHN: ... and the red tape that you're subjected to.
CIRRI: Absolutely. They are taking care of their families.
ZAHN: Why don't we hold up, Karen -- or, excuse me, Sherry, this part of this flag that you now are putting together. This was your husband, Robert Cirri, right? CIRRI: Right, lieutenant.
ZAHN: Lieutenant Robert Cirri, PAPD, 2000. You want to encourage other family members to send you pictures of their lost and loved ones to increase the size of this flag.
KRONENFELD: Right. We're hoping to get every single victim. We wanted to turn those numbers into photos. As you can see, each of these smiling faces is somebody that we want to remember forever. And Eileen is helping us with the Port Authority. And other families have responded with gratitude, knowing that their loved ones are going to be remembered forever. And we just need families to send in the photos. And we are making this American flag that's going to be a permanent record of who they lost.
ZAHN: How touching is this for you, when you have so many other distractions in your life? You're trying to -- you are taking time off from your job as an emergency room nurse. You've got six kids to raise. And the Port Authority police, I know, are still continuing to pay your husband's salary; you don't know how long that's going to last. And yet you were so deeply committed to this project. Why is this so important?
CIRRI: Well, it's a project of love, I think. And since it's -- what I respect about Mindy (ph) and Sherry is they're not going to go out to the families that are widowed and have lost husbands, brothers -- every relationship that you can think of. They want those people to send photos in. And I'm in the same boat as those people, so I want to beseech to those people (sic) to bring in their photos, or send them in to them for this flag.
This flag is going to be a permanent remembrance of everyone that was involved in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the airlines. And it will be a permanent remembrance for them, and no one should be forgotten.
ZAHN: And in the near term, this will immediately be hung at a museum here in New York City?
KRONENFELD: The New York Historical Society would like to have it for their special exhibition that they're going to have about the aftermath of September 11. So we're looking forward to that. And we'd like it to travel around the country, so the rest of the country can get to see it as well.
And it will be two stories high, 30 feet long. And it will hopefully have everyone on it. The rescuers will be in their special section, in the blue section of the flag. And it's just going to be beautiful. And I don't know where the permanent home will be, but it will be around forever, that's for sure.
ZAHN: Well, I wish you both tremendous luck, and our thoughts are with you.
KRONENFELD: And we have a Web site.
ZAHN: You do have a Web site? Want to give us a quick read-off?
KRONENFELD: Yes, it's flagofremembrance.com. And -- one word, "flagofremembrance." We have an 800 number that you can get from the Web site as well. And you can send photos to a post office box, or through the Web site.
ZAHN: Our best to all of your families.
CIRRI: Thank you.
KRONENFELD: Thank you very much.
ZAHN: Thank you very much for coming in at such a painful time of your life.
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