A September 11th memorial has been created by volunteers at a West Des Moines business. Dean Lambert is in charge of the effort for the Homesteaders Life Insurance company, a display called the “Healing Field of Central Iowa,” which honors those who died on September 11th. He says there were two-thousand-996 people who died that day and the Healing Field consists of one three-by-five foot flag for each of the people who died.

Lambert says the idea for such a memorial was started after 9-11 by a flag company owner in Utah. Lambert says the man got such a tremendous response that he created a separate foundation from his flag company called the Healing Field Foundation and so far there have been 100 such memorials.

Lambert says the last one in Iowa was in Waterloo in 2003. Lambert says the field will have some special recognition for Iowans. He says each flag will have a ribbon attached that bears the victim’s name, and there will be blue ribbons on the flags bearing the names of Iowans who died in the attacks.

Lambert says the memorial opens Saturday (September 9th) and will stay open for one week. He says Musco Lighting, which lit ground zero and the Pentagon during recovery efforts, will light the memorial so visitors can come out 24 hours a day. Lambert says they want people to visit and reflect on what happened five years ago.

Lambert says the memorial will be sold off as a fundraiser. Lambert says the flags can be purchased and 100-percent of the proceeds will go to charity. The flags will cost 25 dollars each. Lambert says Musco has also donated a flag that flew at Ground Zero that is being auctioned off to raise funds for charity.

Lambert says his company is making transportation grants available so schoolkids can come and view the memorial. For more information about the Healing Field, surf to: www.healingfieldcentraliowa.org.

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