Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. — A man who plucked a stolen U.S. flag from the bottom of the Willamette River has been presented the flag and a certificate of commendation from the Salem Community Enforcement Division.
The flag is believed to be one of many stolen from a display on the Center Street Bridge after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
Joe Gordon, 22, spotted the flag’s shiny pole when he and his wife, Laura, were walking across the Marion Street Bridge. He climbed down the riverbank and waded in about 25 feet, pulling the flag from the murky bottom.
The flag didn’t appear to be damaged other than "it was not smelling the greatest," Gordon said. "We put it in the washing machine."
Once it was clean, he handed it over to the Community Enforcement Division.
"It was a nice thing to do, not only climbing down the bank and getting himself wet and dirty, but taking it back and cleaning it up before he turned it in," said Gary Kinsman, senior code enforcement officer. "I don’t know how many people must have seen that flag but didn’t do anything about it."
Gordon initially was told the flag would have to be burned, as is traditionally done with U.S. flags that have been soiled or damaged.
But the community enforcement officers, most of them veterans, decided they wanted to return the flag to Gordon.
Gordon said he planned to display the flag, which was presented to him tri-olded, and the framed certificate together. He said he doubted he would fly the flag.
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