Resident Flies Flags on NATO Jet Headed into Afghanistan on 9/11

To commemorate the , Eric Myers, a Stow resident and aircraft engineer, will attach American flags to a C-27J Spartan airplane that is set to take off for a combat mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan today. 

Once the NATO transport aircraft returns to base, the flags will be taken down and framed by Myers and his peers who worked to get the remembrance off the ground, Myers’ fiancée Lisa Braun said. 

“I like that people are taking the time to remember the attacks in their own way,” she said. “As the years go by, reflecting on and finding ways to commemorate (9/11) will only become more important.” 

Myers, who grew up in Stow and graduated from l, joined the Navy in 1998 as a sonar tech, and then switched to the private sector to maintain various types of aircraft over the last decade. 

After taking a job with L-3 Communications in 2010, Myers was flown to Turin, Italy for training prior to his arrival to Afghanistan. 

“It’s very difficult [in Kandahar],” she said. "It’s not his first time overseas though, so he knew what to expect. I’m very proud of him, and I look forward to seeing him next July when he’s hopefully scheduled to return home.” 

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, 19 hijackers from al-Qaeda took control of four airliners and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The fourth plane, United flight 93, went down in Pennsylvania as passengers fought to take back control of the aircraft. None survived and nearly 3,000 people were killed that day.