Field of Flags in Naples honors victims of 9/11

They were fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, and friends. 20 years ago on Saturday, 2,977 people perished in the terrorist attack on 9/11.

WINK News’ sister station Fox News Radio 92.5 is placing flags in a field to represent each of the souls lost that tragic day.

The field is in Old Town Naples at 333 8th Street South.

While visiting the field on Monday, we met people who lost friends and family in the attack and others who recall the feeling of a county under attack.

Bob Milisits, of Naples, helped place the flags. He said it was the day he lost one of his friends. “Never forget. We can never forget this kind of stuff … My mother called me and said Joe Driscoll had gone down on flight 93 in Shanksville.”

Retired New York firefighter Bob Hunter recalled, “As we were crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, I noticed… Looking at the towers. I saw the second plane hit the South Tower.”

Hunter responded to the scene at Ground Zero, where 19 of his fellow firefighters didn’t make it out alive, and he said he ended up going to nearly 80 funerals.

“I figured I’d come out here, spend a couple of hours with the people putting flags up and try to remember the 2,900 people that passed away that day,” he added.

Conya Truitt of Estero said she watched as it happened in her high school history class. “It’s kind of ironic sitting in a history class watching history happened in real-time.”

She also brought her son along to help place the flags, and teach him about the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. “We’re here… We’re actually homeschooling for the first year, so figured we’d give him a chance to learn. See the impact.”