US flag placed atop Bend’s Old Mill smokestacks after 9/11 is still flying high, 20 years later

(Update: adding video, comments from Mick Howard)

'It represents all the sacrifices our friends and family made to make this country'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- An American flag that was placed atop one of Bend's most visible landmarks -- the Old Mill smokestacks -- in the days after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 is still waving, two decades later.

The Stars and Stripes could be seen everywhere in towns across the country as a show, and Bend was no exception. The flag flying high on the Old Mill smokestacks is a "descendant" of the one hung there a couple of days after the attacks.

“It represents all the sacrifices our friends and family made to make this country," Mick Howard told NewsChannel 21 on Wednesday.

Howard, a project manager for Keeton-King Contracting, is one of three men who helped place the original flag in the special spot, a couple days after 9/11. It's an idea that Howard first discussed with his wife (who says she came up with the idea -- and then her husband "made it happen").

“People assume it’s always been there, but that’s not really the case,” Howard said.

After 9/11, finding a U.S. flag big enough to fly above the Old Mill smokestacks was difficult. Howard said the only thing flag vendors had left were "desk flags."

So Howard went across the river, to the recently built National Guard Armory.

“I knew it was a long shot, (but knew) they had a flag on the wall," Howard said. "They couldn’t just give a civilian a flag, so what they did with a copy of my license is make me an honorary Guard member and requisition me the flag.”

Two of Howard's co-workers, Tom and Tim Keeton, climbed up inside the 200-foot smokestack and placed the flag at the top.

A symbol that has stood for 20 years.

“I thought it would be up there until that flag wore down, and it would be a novelty," Howard said. "It had a huge impact on everybody.”

Since the first flag was erected, a new, nearly 50-foot flagpole was installed, with lights to keep it shining bright in the night sky. The flag is also replaced a few times a year.

Howard gave major credit to the Old Mill District and its developer, Bill Smith, for keeping the tradition alive and flying high all these years.

“We envisioned it being there until it needed to be taken down, but it turns out it was something that needed to be there forever,” Howard said.