School Board Chairman John Andrews has purchased an American flag that allegedly flew over the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, despite controversy over the flag's origin.
The flag, which was purchased from an Orange, Va.-based seller on eBay for $25,000, will be donated to Newton-Lee Elementary School. The school is opening in Ashburn this fall.
A much-publicized outcry from families of 9/11 victims, who felt the seller should not profit from memorabilia, followed the flag's posting on eBay. Soon thereafter, questions about the flag's authenticity arose as the manufacturer of the crane said that no cranes were standing at the Pentagon on that day, reported Charlottesville's Daily Progress.
Andrews said he's unbothered by the questions about the flag's authenticity.
"For me, it was just things going full circle," Andrews said. The school is named after two Loudoun men who died in the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
"It'll be a great American flag to have at the school and that's all my thought was," Andrews said.
— Suzannah Evans