When near the Ecker Hill Middle School, look for the flag flying on a nearby peak. That’s Ecker Hill itself, elevation 7,057 feet. The flag is an unofficial 9/11 memorial, and there’s a story on how it came to be there.
On Sept. 10, 2001, Drs. Scott Zuckerman and Julie Asch loaded their car to begin a move from New Jersey to Utah to start new jobs. After overnighting in a Pennsylvania hotel, they awoke to horrific images of the Twin Towers burning.
“A horrible event, frozen in time, happening just as we were about to start a new chapter in our lives,” Zuckerman said. “Sometime later I learned that Sal Gitto, a friend of mine and parent of one of my patients, was a 9/11 victim. It was really affecting. That personal connection intensified our grief.”
Zuckerman and Asch settled in Pinebrook but never had the opportunity to mourn the massive loss of life with friends and family.
“We could see the top of Ecker Hill from our house. On the first anniversary of 9/11, we were sad. We decided to hike the hill and hang a flag on a piece of rebar we knew to be there,” Zuckerman said.
They put the flag up in the cold rain after slogging through mud.
“That little gesture was comforting and helped us mourn. Somehow it eased our sadness,” he said.
Zuckerman has found other ways to process his grief from 9/11. He’s written two non-fiction books. The latest, “Nothing Left to Prove, Nothing Left to Hide,” has several key references to 9/11 and is dedicated to those who died that day.
Ayers moved to the neighborhood in 2003. When he first learned of the flag, he hiked the hill. Despite Zuckerman’s regular visits to the flag, that day Ayers found it in tatters and touching the ground from recent high winds.
“Well, this won’t do,” he thought.
Ayers owned a metal fabrication shop, and he fashioned ballast rings to weigh down and secure a metal flagpole he had obtained. The rings weighed more than 75 pounds each.
“In the fall, I hauled those rings up there. I would carry two at a time about 50 yards, put them down, walk back for another two, and hike them up to the first set, over and over. I ran out of light the first afternoon. The next day, I rounded up some buddies and we managed to get all the rings up there, raise the pole, and rehang the flag.”
The ballast rings and the base of the pole are covered by rocks for further stability. The flag is not attached to a halyard, so it takes carrying a ladder up to swap out a flag, Ayers said.
“I lived in Pinebrook until 2013, and I usually changed out the flag twice a year.”
It wasn’t until several years ago that Ayers learned the backstory of the flag.
“I met Scott Zuckerman for coffee and we shared stories. It was great to learn the origin, and from then on, I made a point of sharing the story with people I met on hikes to the summit,” Ayers said.
In 2018, Ayers’ son Jackson, a Marine Poolee (a Marine term for those waiting to report to boot camp), went with other poolees to the site for a flag-changing ceremony. The event was repeated the following year with another group waiting to ship out to boot camp.
Ayers has since moved out of state, and now a small group of Pinebrook residents, some with military backgrounds, maintain the site on a volunteer basis. Solar lights have been installed for nighttime lighting in an effort to observe flag etiquette. The neighborhood group swaps out the flag around July 4 and Nov. 11.
Standing out against all the green foliage in the area, the flag serves as an aviation guide. The Hill Air Force Base squadron likes to use Ecker Hill to line up their annual July 4 fly-bys over Main Street. The flag also served as a vital visual way point for air tankers fighting the Parley’s Canyon fire in August 2021.
Several years ago, Zuckerman posted about the flag’s significance.
“We’ve been moved by the response. People have expressed their gratitude and appreciate having a deeper understanding of why the flag is there. We’re grateful that Jim Ayers erected a flagpole, and for all the people who have stepped in to maintain the flag,” he said. “Those efforts have turned it into a community landmark.”
The Park City Museum encourages community members to join the upcoming Veterans Day ceremony. Check with the Pinebrook Nextdoor.com site for details. If you are hiking there and observe a maintenance need, you can send word via that site as well.
Michael O’Malley is a Park City Museum researcher.