About 900 flags were stolen from a memorial display put up Thursday by a Michigan Tech group, Young Americans for Freedom. The flags were thrown into nearby trash bins shortly after the display was completed. The green space before the flags indicate where the stolen flags once stood. An ongoing investigation is underway by the university. (Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Michigan Technological University’s Walker Lawn was supposed to have 2,977 small American flags Thursday in remembrance of each life lost from the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

However the memorial was marred after thieves took about 900 of the flags and threw them into nearby trash bins.

The display was organized and set up by Young Americans for Freedom. The organization’s president, Donald Chapman, said the flags were taken sometime between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. Thursday.

YAF members organize the the memorial each year and get up early in the morning to ensure the display is ready at the crack of dawn. The flags were accompanied by posters commemorating the lives lost.

However, the posters along with the 900 flags went missing a short while after being put up. Chapman said Michigan Tech’s Department of Public Safety and Police Services is currently reviewing footage of the area and an investigation is underway.

Chapman said his group finished putting up the display about 6:30 a.m. and when he walked past an hour later, the flags were gone.

“It almost certainly must have been coordinated … I mean 900 flags is no small number,” Chapman said. “So it wasn’t just one person. It must have been a group.”

It is unknown how many were involved in the incident, but Chapman said public safety saw people taking the flags to the trash bins in the footage.

“9-11 was just a national tragedy, and we are a political club even though we’re nonpartisan,” Chapman said. “Some of our events are more controversial. But this event is really not that at all. This is just us setting up American flags as a memorial to these victims. This is one of our most wholesome events, I would say.”

He added he can’t see why people would come and just remove the flags for basically no good reason, especially in such a coordinated way. “I mean, this was an hour time slot immediately after we left,” Chapman said.

A university spokesperson issued this statement on the incident: “We are aware of the American flags on Walker Lawn stolen early this morning from the memorial tribute to the victims of the September 11 terrorist attack. This act of vandalism on a symbol meant to unite us all is deeply disappointing. We are working to identify those who committed the vandalism and will hold them responsible for their actions.”