Workers watch the smoke billowing from the Pentagon on 9/11.
A few days after 9/11, a family friend who worked for Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) gave McLaughlin the flag above, purchased in the Senate stationery store, in recognition of his military service. He packed it with him in a duffel bag before he left for Iraq, though he had no idea what a global symbol it would become during the invasion.
