SHANKSVILLE, Pa. – Walt Peters ran his hand over a new American Braille flag Friday at the visitors center at Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville.
“Isn’t this beautiful?” asked Peters, a legally blind Army veteran who served in the Vietnam War and president of the American Braille Flag Project. “I think this is one of the blessings of my life here.”
Peters played a leading role in installing the bronze plaque on the monument through a partnership between the Pennsylvania Moose Association and the American Braille Flag Project.
Flight 93 National Monument | Braille flag presentation
Retired Staff Sgt. Walter Peters, president of the American Braille Flag Project, addresses attendees during the presentation of the American Braille Flag at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville on Friday, June 14, 2024.
The plaque features the image of the American flag along with the text of the Pledge of Allegiance in both written words and braille – the writing system used by people with visual impairments, featuring arrangements of raised dots created by touch can be read.
“When they come here to the monument to see this place, they can touch this flag, and it will fill their hearts because it is so good,” Peters said earlier during an official dedication ceremony on Flag Day.
The mission of the American Braille Flag Project is to install the flags at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities and other locations.
Stephen Clark, superintendent of western Pennsylvania’s national parks, offered his support in the effort, announcing a plan to install Braille flags within the next few months at the four other parks he oversees: Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Johnstown Flood National Memorial, Fort Necessity National Battlefield and Friendship Hill National Historic Site.
Flight 93 National Monument | Braille flag presentation
Pennsylvania Moose Association President Jim Hudack applauds during the presentation of the American Braille flag at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville on Friday, June 14, 2024.
Looking beyond the local region, Clark added: “As I stand here in front of our incredible flag, I pledge to work every day, with my colleagues in leadership in the other 424 national parks, to have a braille flag flying at every visitor center across the country.”
Flight 93 National Memorial was built on the site where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to honor the flight’s passengers and crew who fought back against hijackers.
Friday’s presentation included speeches from Randolph Cabral, founder of the Kansas Braille Transcription Institute and creator of the Braille flag; Scott Hart, CEO of Moose International; and Ken Nacke, brother of Flight 93 passenger Louis J. Nacke II.
Nacke and Hart recalled how the passengers and crew fought back against the terrorists, preventing the plane from reaching its target, likely a valuable government building in Washington, DC.
Flight 93 National Monument | Braille flag presentation
Park visitors line up to take photos during the presentation of the American Braille flag at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville on Friday, June 14, 2024.
Hart evoked the final words of the Pledge of Allegiance: “Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
“As things unfolded, they came together – united, indivisible – and said, ‘What’s the plan?’ … When evil comes into play, good united will triumph over that evil. I like that ‘indivisible’. They came together as one,” Hart said.
Nacke said placing the flag at Flight 93 National Memorial is appropriate because it is an “inclusive memorial.”
“It’s not just my memorial,” he said. “It’s just not the (National) Park Service monument. This is everyone’s commemoration for the United States, so what better place to place the Braille flag than here for a community that has lost or is impaired in sight? It is appropriate.”
