In honor of the people who were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, 2,977 American flags were strategically placed in the shape of the Twin Towers on the lawn between the Student Activities Center and the Ward Melville Library on Wednesday.  From 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., members of the Stony Brook chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, or YAF, along with volunteers worked together to place the thousands of flags so that passers-by would not forget those who died.

Rachel Doukas, president of the Stony Brook YAF organization, organized and set up the event on campus and had plenty of help from friends and students.

“I did this so that people would never forget what happened and they would recall the tragedy when they walked by,” Doukas, 20, said. “We had 15 people at the beginning to help set up for this, and then people who were walking by to go to class would stop and help as well. One of the people who stopped by had actually lost someone that day from the attacks.”

Puneet Singh, a junior and one of Doukas’ friends, volunteered his time to help set up the flags.

“The flags are each one foot apart from each other and when they are all set up the size of each tower will be 12 feet by 125 feet,” Singh, 20, said.

Robert Shilling, a senior, was another volunteer who was happy to set up the memorial.

“I’m a Corporal in the Marines and I’ve been a part of it for six years now,” Shilling, 25, said. “9/11 is a big reason why I joined. I was 17 when I joined and went to Iraq in 2004. I saw this event on Facebook that said the YAF needed volunteers so I wanted to help.”

The memorial will be on display until Monday, Sept.13 when it will be dismantled at 5 p.m.