A retired New York City police officer has been ordered to take down the flag he flies outside his home to commemorate the colleagues and friends he lost in the 9/11 attacks. Continue reading after the jump.
Hero Richard Wentz, who pulled victims from the wreckage of Tower 1 on September 11, 2001, has ordered by the homeowners’ association at his retirement home in Florida to remove the flag or face legal action.
Mr Wentz flies two flags, the US flag and the Flag of Honour, which bears the names of all those who perished in the attack.
Mr Wentz.said: ‘That flag means the world to me. Other than my children, that flag means the world to me,’
The retired officer told WPLG: ‘I will not take that flag down.
‘That flag will remain up. I don’t care how many fines they want to give me, how many notices they want to give me, I refuse to take that down.’
The Fairways at Heron Bay association told him only one flag is allowed and it must be the American flag.
But the association claims Mr Wentz’s flag undermines the visual harmony of the surrounding properties.
Mr Wentz was in Lower Manhattan on the fateful day when the Twin Towers came under attack.
The New York police officer ran into Tower 1 and started pulling people out before the building fell. He lost 43 friends and colleagues that day, he said.
The former policeman says he now has cancer, as a result of breathing in particles of dust during the cleanup at the World Trade Centre site.
