Orders for American flags have soared tenfold. Workers at Valley Forge Flag canceled vacations. They put in extra hours. Some came out of retirement. Deb Wenrich, a 38-year-old sewing supervisor, sees it as part of the larger struggle to heal the nation. “You touch these flags, it’s hard not to feel emotional,” said Wenrich. “You know that everybody in the nation is pulling together, that somebody out there really wants this flag. And we need to get it to them.”
In the flag business, this was always the slow time. At the Annin flag plant in rural Coshocton, Ohio, eight people worked in the shipping department on the Monday before the attack. Now there are 105 and the job applications are still flooding in. “Being out here in Ohio, people aren’t sure what they can do to help,” said Bud Scott, the manager of the Annin plant. “But they know people everywhere want to wave the flag. So this is work people can do right here to help the cause.” New orders for made-in-U.S.A. flags must wait as long as eight weeks to be filled. To fill the gap, some factories in China are stepping up production of American flags. Joe LaPaglia, president of Annin, urged consumers to “stand fast and say, ‘No, thanks. I’ll wait’.”
David Titus, the shipping manager at Valley Forge Flag, sits in a small office and gasps at the sheer volume of new orders. Some of these flags will end up on front porches around the country. Some will be festooned on office buildings or shops. Others will serve the grimmest of tasks. “We just sent flags to New York to drape over bodies,” Titus said in a half whisper. “We sent 500–that’s 500.” He stopped, and swallowed hard. Then it was time to get back to work. America was calling.
