Valley residents honor the victims of 9/11

TEMPE (KSAZ) - As the dawn broke on a sunny, September Friday morning, thousands of volunteers gathered at Tempe Town Lake Park.

"I can hardly talk about this right now," One volunteer said. "it made our country more unified in a way. All Americans fell together."

One by one, people young and old placed an American flag in the ground as the greatest symbol of patriotism, pride and in this case, tragedy.

The flags on the Healing Field at Tempe Town Lake Park are a way to honor the thousands of people who fell victim on September 11, 2001.

The Healing Field is one of the nation's longest consecutive-running 9/11 tribute events where one American flag is flown for every victim who died as a result of the terrorist attacks on our nation.

The Exchange Club of Tempe started it 13 years ago.

"It was a time when our whole country came together, it didn't matter where you were from or what you did, we were all one America," Nick Bastin said. "My family lives in New York, my brothers are law enforcement. I knew people in the towers."

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