Mitt Romney Shares Moving Story of the World Trade Center Flag at the Olympics – Here’s the Video

Tonight in Waukesha, Wisconsin Governor Mitt Rommey told a moving story about the World Trade Center Flag being carried into the Salt Lake City Games. Governor Romney shared this inspiring story with the conservative crowd in Wisconsin.

At the end of the Games I invited a young man to come in and sit with Vice President Cheney to represent all of the athletes of America. And I chose a young fella named Derek Para. He’s about five foot four, born in Los Angeles, Spanish American… 1500 meters, he gets the gold medal. Fasted man on earth on skates and so I invited him to sit with the vice president. As he came in I said, ‘Derek what was the most meaningful experience of your Olympic games?” And he said, “Carrying the flag that had flown above the World Trade Center on 2001 in the Opening Ceremonies. He was one of the eight athletes that was selected to carry that flag. It’s about eight by twelve feet and torn and burned. And when we brought it into the stadium, total silence. Complete reverence. They started singing the national anthem. And he said Mitt it was hard to hold my emotions as they were singing those words and I was holding that flag… And he said this time as they sang it, a gust of wind blew in the flag and lifted it in their hands. And he said for me it was as if the spirits of all those who had fought and died for American liberty had just blown into that flag. And he said tears began to run down my face. And as he told me that story, tears filled my eyes.

We love this country. We know it’s an exceptional land… This is the greatest nation on earth in part because of that extraordinary beginning. We are not going to change America into something we don’t recognize. We’re going to restore to America those principles that made America the hope of the earth. We’re going to do everything in our power to keep America strong. This nation has a mission to perform. We’re going to make it happen. we’re going to keep America that Shining City on the Hill. You’re going to help us win the White House in November. We’re counting on Wisconsin.

Here is the video from 2002.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Utah Symphony sing the Star-Spangled Banner at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. Mitt Romney and President George W. Bush were in attendance.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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Thanks for sharing!