More than 1,200 volunteers will hand-assemble 7,620 American flags on Art Hill in Forest Park starting Sept. 5, transforming the St. Louis landmark into one of the largest 9/11 and War on Terror memorials in the country. The display, open free to the public through Sept. 13, marks 25 years since the September 11 attacks and includes 18 flags honoring service members killed earlier this year during Operation Epic Fury.
The installation, known as Flags of Valor, is organized by the nonprofit America's Heartland Remembers, whose founder Rick Randall said the sprawling field of flags turns numbers into names, faces and stories, according to FOX 2. Each of the 7,620 flags carries a photograph and a dog tag identifying the person's name, rank, military branch or department, and date of death, the station reports. The count represents all 2,977 victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks along with thousands of service members killed in War on Terror conflicts in the years since.
Newest Names Reflect a 2026 Combat Operation
Among this year's additions are 18 service members who died during Operation Epic Fury, a U.S. Central Command mission launched Feb. 28, 2026, that targeted Iranian military and missile infrastructure, according to U.S. Central Command. It is the first time 2026 combat casualties have been publicly memorialized on Art Hill, a stark reminder that the War on Terror's toll continues to grow even a quarter-century after the towers fell. Encircling the Grand Basin at the foot of the hill will be 412 additional flags honoring first responders, per the same FOX 2 report.
Planting the flags is itself a massive undertaking. Thirty-six volunteer teams will begin at dawn on Sept. 5, part of a nine-week hand-assembly effort that requires 21 tons of equipment across the 10-acre site, according to Flags of Valor. That includes 7,620 ten-foot poles, 11 miles of flag rows, more than 15,000 rubber bands and 3,000 feet of plastic tubing. Major corporate sponsors including JPMorganChase and Guarantee Electric mobilize hundreds of local employees over nine weekends leading up to the installation, per Flags of Valor's own event page.
From 2,977 Flags to Nearly 8,000
The quinquennial memorial began on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in 2011 with 2,977 flags, one for each life lost that day, and has grown with every five-year installation since — expanding to 6,869 flags in 2016 and 7,582 in 2021 as additional War on Terror deaths were memorialized. Held only once every five years, the next installation after this one is not planned until 2031. Beyond the flag count's growth, America's Heartland Remembers has donated more than $500,000 to military nonprofits since 2011, including Semper Fi & America's Fund, the Missouri Military Memorial Foundation, and Greater St. Louis Honor Flight, funded largely through flag sponsorships.
Those sponsorships let the public connect personally with individual fallen heroes. Through a $50 donation program, sponsors are randomly assigned a service member and receive a package listing that person's rank, branch, and exact flag coordinates on Art Hill, according to the Patriot Training Foundation. The organization's reach extends well past Forest Park: it provides ongoing support to more than 60 Midwest Gold Star families with funeral logistics, photo displays and grave photography at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, according to Flags of Valor's history page. In September 2024, the group also partnered with the City of Manchester to stage a satellite exhibit at Margaret A. Stoecker Park honoring 412 9/11 first responders and roughly 350 more who died from 9/11-related illnesses.
A Week of Remembrance Events
The memorial's closing days build toward Sept. 11 itself. Gold Star families will attend a candlelight remembrance at sunset that evening, followed by patriotic music from Stages St. Louis and an overnight reading of the names beginning at 9:11 p.m., FOX 2 reports. The national president and national chaplain of Blue Star Mothers of America are also expected at the Sept. 11 remembrance. Three days earlier, on Sept. 8, an American bald eagle provided by the World Bird Sanctuary will appear at the memorial between 4 and 6 p.m.
The installation will close with a blessing of the flags and remarks from St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy, a former NYPD officer who responded to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, according to FOX 2's report. Among this year's volunteer force is St. Louis-area resident Krista Salvatore, a survivor of World Trade Center Tower 2 who evacuated minutes before its collapse and now volunteers alongside local firefighters helping plant the flags, according to a release carried by PR Newswire.
This year's installation also lands during Forest Park's 150th anniversary; the 1,300-acre park was founded in 1876 and later hosted the 1904 World's Fair, according to the Patriot Training Foundation. For organizers, the milestone underscores a shifting mission — as 9/11 moves from living memory toward history for generations born after the attacks, the flags on Art Hill remain a way to keep the names, and not just the numbers, in view.
