 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and the Vice President of the United States. Mr. President, distinguished guests, it's a pleasure to join with you here today in the presentation of the world's largest flag to the U.S. government on Flag Day 1983. However, as a committee, our patriotic role sadly comes to an end. It has been a glorious seven years of involvement with the great American flag, a flag that this nation has come to know so well. In 1976, as a bicentennial tribute, about 30 New York iron workers rigged and hoisted a prototype of this great flag on the cables of the Veranzano Narrows Bridge. The complexity of the concept soon became evident when high winds ripped and tore the 71,000 square feet of stars and stripes to shreds. However, that brief display of all glory filled many a heart with pride and inspired the concept that this great country should have somewhere, sometime, a gigantic flag symbolic of our greatness as a nation. So, and now, a new and even larger flag came into being. Three years ago today, the new and larger great American flag, now 86,379 square feet, was unfurled right here where it is today with some of the same iron workers and Washington area billing tradesmen who did so again today. A year later, many of that same crew, along with veterans of American wars, unfurled it at Andrews Air Force Base to greet the American hostages returning from Iran during the early days of your administration. Prior to today, the most recent display of this great flag was in New York where iron workers and other billing tradesmen unfurled the flag in Central Park. All of this was an effort to raise funds to install it permanently on the Veranzano Narrows Bridge. In November of 1981, the Centennial Convention of the AFL-CIO in New York City, the delegates made a strong commitment to the flag project which has helped bring it to where it is today. Over these years, we have come to love this flag, all seven tons of it, all two acres of stars and stripes. Now it belongs to all Americans. Not just the committee, and in a sense not just to those of us who on occasion have had the thrill of unfurling it. We look forward to seeing it displayed hopefully on every flag day at the monument and perhaps whenever a large patriotic display is needed or desired. So in closing, Mr. President, the fundraising efforts, the thousands of small and large contributions that have already served our country well in New York City at Andrews Air Force Base and here twice at the mall, comes to an end. But our great flag now has a home. So this is in fact the beginning. We are most grateful to the volunteer muscles and sweat of our volunteers whose efforts in the past and now today assisted our fundraisers to make these several patriotic tributes to the land of the free and the home of the brave. May the spirit embodied in this, the greatest of all American flags, live on in the hearts and minds of all Americans. And Mr. President, may I now present to you Mr. Peter Grace, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, a W.R. Grace and Company who served so willingly and so well on this committee. Mr. Grace. Thank you. Thank you, John. Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Len Silverfein, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, this is truly an auspicious occasion to honor our beloved flag. It is our nation's most important symbol. It spells liberty and independence to hundreds of millions of people around the world who crave our freedoms. This particular flag, the largest American flag, as well as the largest flag of any nation ever, is the flag of flags. As we view all glories, gigantic expanse, and feel the emotions that well up inside us, we realize that the great expanse we see before us is no greater than the depths of patriotism and pride we all now feel. It is flag day. I am grateful and proud to be an American, especially during a moment like this. There are other symbols here today. John Lyons is a distinguished labor leader representing the might and honor of free labor and free people and the 200-plus years of prosperity that freedom has made possible for the working people of the United States. Len Silverfein, the inspired genius who dreamed and then made it into reality. This magnificent flag represents another kind of freedom, special to this country, the freedom of ordinary people to work. Sometimes only with a dream. Len had a dream. He eventually turned it into an accomplishment, a uniquely American accomplishment. Finally, but firstly and most importantly, of course, our esteemed president is here as our leader. No president in my lifetime, at least, could communicate more effectively or with more inspiration the values that this flag represents. This flag, just like our freedom, belongs to all of us and I can think of no one who better appreciates the cherished American reality than our president or anyone who was more representative of America at its very best. We are paying tribute today to everyone who has ever protected, fought or exercised the powerful and too often under-recognized freedom that makes the United States the envy and the fascination of people around the globe. Before I close, I want to mention the selfless and patriotic contributions made by Roger Millican and Millican and Company and by Michael Bergerac and Revlon, people and companies whose time and money help make this amazing flag possible. They can't be here today, but they're present in this production, should not go unrecognized during these ceremonies. That dynamo and Patriot Len Silverfein is now ready to make an important gift to the American people. Len is the man in charge of the Great American Flag Funding, an organization that, in an inimitable American style, continued to hang in there despite any and all adversity, especially when the going got tough. In fact, when the going got downright impossible, Len summoned his greatest energy and I'll let him tell that remarkable story. May I present Len Silverfein, a fine, outstanding American. Thank you, Mr. Grace, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Lyons, Mom, honored guests. Boy, I'm glad to be here today. I know it's a big flag, but seven years is a long time. There are many, many thank yous, and there's not enough time to acknowledge all the wonderful people that have been touched by this flag and what it represents and, in turn, have breathed energy into the flag's progress. Just beyond me, some years ago, Carl Samberg said, be public.