Follow the Flag: 9/11 stripes stop in Dallas

This flag is on a mission. Hands from across the nation will put their touch on the National 9/11 Flag.

On it's latest stop to Oak Cliff, Texas, students of Erik Jonsson Community School have taken time to care for the flag and remember that all American's, not just New Yorkers, were affected that day.

"I will always be an American," the fourth graders sang to a local community group according to a Dallas Morning News report. "And I will always cry American tears."

The 30-foot-by-20-foot U.S. flag, which was damaged in the collapse of the World Trade Center, is on a nationwide restoration tour. All 50 states will collaborate to stitch pieces of their own retired flag into the WTC fabric. The final flag will make its way back to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in time for the 10th anniversary. Read about one of the previous stops on the MEMO.

Jeff Parness, the flag's caretaker and founder of New York Says Thank You Foundation is committed to thanking Americans for the outpouring of support each year by sending New York volunteers to regions struck by disasters to help communities rebuild.

Future stops for the flag include Pearl Harbor and the Kentucky Dirby next spring. The Cowboys honored it just this past Oct. 25.

When the tour is over, the flag will arrive to the World Trade Center site and symbolize "what America is all about," Parness reiterated in the report .

So keep an eye out, the flag could be coming to a town near you.

By Norm Dannen, Public Affairs Associate for 9/11 Memorial