{"id":397729,"date":"2026-09-12T07:46:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T07:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/397729\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T07:46:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T07:46:22","slug":"a-field-of-heroes-sanibel-captiva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/397729\/","title":{"rendered":"A Field of Heroes – SANIBEL-CAPTIVA"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\n
\n \/News
\n
\n <\/a>
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

1 \/ 5<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

PHOTO PROVIDED
\nVolunteers helped with placing 2,977 flags at the Sanibel Community Park for the A Field of Heroes to remember the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

2 \/ 5<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

PHOTO PROVIDED
\nVolunteers helped with placing 2,977 flags at the Sanibel Community Park for the A Field of Heroes to remember the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

3 \/ 5<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

PHOTO PROVIDED
\nVolunteers helped with placing 2,977 flags at the Sanibel Community Park for the A Field of Heroes to remember the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

4 \/ 5<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

PHOTO PROVIDED
\nVolunteers helped with placing 2,977 flags at the Sanibel Community Park for the A Field of Heroes to remember the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

5 \/ 5<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

PHOTO PROVIDED
\nVolunteers helped with placing 2,977 flags at the Sanibel Community Park for the A Field of Heroes to remember the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

[expand]<\/p>\n

close
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

A tribute to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9\/11 was embraced by the community, as many came together to provide a helping hand in creating A Field of Heroes at the Sanibel Community Park. <\/p>\n

When volunteers gathered in June to tag the flags, which recognize a first responder, military member, loved one or hero connected to the attacks, it became a healing event as it provided an opportunity to share individual stories. <\/p>\n

Sanibel Recreation Department Marketing & Events Coordinator Denise Dillon said no matter the distance to where they were that day \u2014 everyone has a story. <\/p>\n

Individuals are encouraged to visit A Field of Heroes at the Sanibel Community Park, at 2331 Periwinkle Way, as \u201cit is breathtaking to see\u201d the straight lines of American flags. <\/p>\n

The community can visit the tribute until Tuesday, Sept. 14. <\/p>\n

Dillon said for two days about 60 volunteers installed 2,977 flags that are individually labeled of those that passed in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., in alphabetical order. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason that I did this was because coming from New Jersey every 9\/11, on every TV channel show, would have these five hour readings of all the names,\u201d Dillon said. <\/p>\n

When she moved to Florida, turned on the television, the same was not replicated. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of upset me, it wasn\u2019t a regional tragedy, it was a national tragedy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dillon said the addition of names on the flags is a small part she can do to honor those who lost their life and gave their lives so selflessly. <\/p>\n

\u201cI sat at my desk last year \u2014 what can we do as a city, a community that has suffered numerous tragedies and knows what to do to band together \u2014 (that is where I) kind of had this idea,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

With many who live in Florida being transplants from the tri-state area, they all have a story to tell, many of which resulted in tears as the flags were placed in the field. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the tags would have a women\u2019s name and say her unborn child. You don\u2019t think of the amount of people, and walks of life they all came from,\u201d Dillon said. <\/p>\n

All of the flags were sponsored, which helped raise money for a special city initiative that will be announced during the Waves of Remembrance program. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful for the sponsors that have poured in to help make this field come to life so these individuals can be remembered. If you knew someone, or did not know someone, you can sit there and reflect on all the lives that were lost,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Dillon said she is very grateful for all of the volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe banged it out in a day and a half. They put up with the heat and bugs this week to make it all come to life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \/News 1 \/ 5 PHOTO PROVIDED Volunteers helped with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-397729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}